Champagne Pontillart-Leroy

Champagne Pontillart-Leroy

The Pointillart-Leroy family has been based in Montagne de Reims since the 1800s and has its holdings, totalling just over 5 hectares, in the communes of Écueil, Chamery, and Vrigny, all classified as "Premier Cru." Pinot noir dominates the plantings (3.5 ha) and is complemented by chardonnay (0.8 ha) and pinot meunier (0.7 ha). The approach in both vineyard and cellar is traditional, and the operation is run according to the principles of sustainable agriculture. The winemaker and head of operations since 2012 is Juliette Pointillart. There are many anecdotes, some dramatic, to tell about the company and the family, who among other things were forced to endure two world wars with both casualties and wounded. To take one example: During his medical studies before World War I, Louis Leroy became good friends with the German Aloïs Felten. Both went on to fight on their respective sides during the war, and Louis was killed in action as early as 1914. The friendship, however, endured between the Leroy family and Aloïs Felten, and in 1940 it perhaps saved the life of André Leroy. He mobilised with the French army in 1939, was wounded, and taken prisoner in 1940. Eventually, he ended up in the labour camp at Bunzlau, where it turned out that the family's old friend Aloïs Felten was serving as a mobilised physician. Felten helped André simulate yellow fever and arranged for him to be sent back home to Champagne. André is the grandfather of Juliette, who runs the family business today.