Producer Etienne Sandrin

FRANCE, CHAMPAGNE

Anne and Étienne Sandrin had chosen different career paths. She pursued a technical agronomics; he pursued the legal field. Then, as often happens, when his parents decided to retire, the small estate in Celles-sur-Ource, in the Côte des Bar, was threatened with closure. Anne and Étienne decided to give up everything and devote themselves wholeheartedly to the land, the vines, and the wine. Their parents discouraged them, but they insisted. In 2006, Domaine Sandrin became a new "playground," as they called it. A very demanding playground: almost everything had to be learned or perfected. Anne and Étienne wanted a different approach: no chemicals in the vineyard, no additives in the cellar. In 2013/14, they officially converted to organic farming. The following year, they adopted biodynamic farming (Demeter certification). Étienne's passion leads him to personally select the plants he then processes himself into biodynamic preparations. A truly synergistic company in every way.Today, the 9.5 hectares of vineyards are cultivated methodically, plot by plot (le contrées, as they say in the Aube). Winemaking is therefore parcel-by-plot: every place, its own wine. The basic approach calls for a traditional gentle vertical pressing, spontaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, no chemical or thermal fining, no filtration, and finally, no dosage. Sandrin champagnes thus acquire an expressive purity and precision that reflects the character of the Ource terroir, primarily clay-limestone, in the glass. Delicacy, definition, and class: these are the guiding principles of this domaine.