Gaston Chiquet
Grower Profile
The Chiquet family has been tending vines since 1746—eight generations of farmers who understand that great wine begins in the vineyard.
wines expressing a specific place
Grower of
In the village of Dizy, nestled in the Grand Vallée de la Marne, the Chiquet family has been tending vines since 1746—eight generations of farmers who understand that great wine begins in the vineyard.
When brothers Fernand and Gaston Chiquet made the bold decision in 1919 to bottle their own Champagne rather than sell their grapes to the large houses, they were true pioneers. This was radical in a region where growers traditionally farmed and houses blended from across Champagne to create consistent "house styles." But the Chiquet brothers believed their land had something specific to say—a unique voice that would be lost in anonymous blends.
Today, brothers Antoine and Nicolas Chiquet farm 23 hectares across Premier Cru villages of Dizy, Hautvillers, and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, plus Grand Cru Aÿ. The vineyards slope steeply to the Marne River, with clay-limestone soils over chalk that give the wines their distinctive mineral backbone.
Annual production is just 220,000 bottles, compared to Moët's 28 million. When you're farming 23 hectares yourself, you know every row of vines intimately—this is the essence of grower Champagne.
The wine that made Gaston Chiquet famous is the Blanc de Blancs d'Aÿ. Aÿ is a Grand Cru village celebrated for centuries for Pinot Noir, yet Gaston planted Chardonnay here in the 1930s. The result doesn't taste like typical Chardonnay—it has finesse and citrus, but underneath there's maltiness and brioche that speaks to the soil's character. It's proof that terroir matters more than variety.
This is what grower Champagne offers: authenticity. Wine made by farmers from their own land, expressing a specific place. When you drink Gaston Chiquet, you're tasting eight generations devoted to these vineyards. This isn't a product crafted for global luxury markets—it's wine made the way it's been made for centuries, by people who see winemaking not as an industry but as a way of life.
