A wine match made in heaven
By Joe Hyam
Joseph Henriot's ranking is exceptionally high among French wine personalities. Last year he was responsible for taking over the established family house of Bouchard Père et Fils in the Côte d'Or, a rare example of a Burgundy and a Champagne house coming together.
This was not a case of a large conglomerate swallowing up a family company, however, but of one family house taking over another.
Two years ago the story might have been different. Henriot, who was voted 1995 Man of the Year by the French magazine Revue du Vin de France, had seen his eponymous Champagne house become a part of the giant Louis Vuitton, Moët, Hennessy (LVMH) conglomerate. The group owned seven Champagne houses, including Henriot and Veuve Clicquot.
Last year, forsaking the powerful position and influence that he exerted at LVMH, Henriot extracted his family firm from the group and resolved to concentrate on developing it once again as an independent house. Within a few months there came the news of the Bouchard takeover.
Both the independence of Henriot and the acquisition of Bouchard is good for quality and individuality in the wine business. Henriot Champagne has a fine reputation, particularly for its blanc de blanc and vintage wines (the 1985 is superb at the moment). Its ownership of 110 hectares of top-rated vineyards chiefly on the Côte des Blancs and the Vallée de la Marne stands it in good stead too.
The logic of the Bouchard takeover is clear. The Burgundy house was noted for assets that were not always matched by the quality of the wines it produced. "Since 1988," Henriot says, "the wines have become unimaginative. I want to make inspired wines that are a strong expression of the soil from which they came."
In pursuit of that aim, Henriot immediately demonstrated his standards by de-classing several million francs' worth of wine stocks entitled to prestigious names on their labels. In a region where too much advantage is taken of entitlement to a great name at the expense of quality, this was impressive. "In my eyes," Henriot says, "quantity is of no importance. It is the emotional and cultural dimension of wine that interests me."
Bouchard has an outstanding portfolio of vineyard property in the Côte d'Or and the Côte de Nuits, including two new vineyards in Bonnes Mares and Clos de Vougeot just acquired by Henriot. What it seemed to need was a genius, a man dedicated to quality who was also no slouch as a businessman. It looks as though Joseph Henriot is that man.
Henriot Champagne is available in the UK though Anthony Byrne Wine Agencies (01487 814555), the wines of Bouchard Père et Fils from Maisons Marques et Domaines (0181-871 3955).
