Vindeux and Artisanal Champagne: Behind the Scenes

450 months of aging on the back label. That would put the bottle in the cellar since the late 1980s for a champagne the producer disgorged in 2020. The math doesn’t work, and Douwe from Vindeux laughs as he points it out before opening the Cuvée Flore from Claude Michel. One typo, one family, one champagne worth the time.

Vindeux is not a classic importer. Douwe and Ellen launched the subscription model in 2022: one bottle per month from a producer who hasn’t entered the Dutch market yet. No safety net of well-known houses, just the discovery of Récoltant-Manipulants in villages most travellers drive past.

Claude Michel from Boursault

The estate sits in Boursault, west of Épernay in the Vallée de la Marne. Father Claude started in 1973; since 2010 his daughter runs it with her husband. Both come from wine families, so two sets of vineyards now flow into one operation.

Cuvée Flore is their assemblage: 45% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Meunier. Four to five years on the lees, not the 450 months the label claims. In the glass: brioche, green apple, citrus zest. Underneath, the chalky tension that gives the Marne valley its signature. Fine mousse, long finish.

Remuage by hand

Douwe talks about producers who still disgorge by hand. Twelve thousand bottles a year, one at a time. Does it matter for the taste? He doubts it. But the craft is a choice, and that choice becomes the story that ships with the bottle to the subscriber.

The gyropalette has taken over most cellars; faster, more accurate. Some producers stick with the pupitre anyway. Not from nostalgia alone, but because it sets them apart in a market where the big houses put the same product on every shelf.

What the subscription model actually does

Champagne is a safer category for a surprise box than still wine, Douwe argues. Style varies, but you don’t end up with a wine miles from your palate. That gives Vindeux room to switch every month, share a new family story, and nudge subscribers to drive to Boursault or Vertus themselves.

The lock-in works in reverse. Fall in love with one specific bottle and reorder, and you discover the stock is gone. That’s not a bug; it’s the whole design.

More information about Vindeux: https://www.vindeux.nl/

Disclosure: Vindeux provided a bottle for this article. All tasting notes are my own independent assessment.

Sources

• Vindeux (NL grower champagne importer): vindeux.nl
• Comité Champagne (CIVC): champagne.fr