Press reviews

Gault & Millau
n°339. May-June 2000

" Union Champagne
Like an organist who masters a multitude of stops,
Union Champagne is in full command of the vast palette
of its supplies, fusing the wines into blends that always come out at the top of our blind tastings. This is
an amazing feat for such a huge entity which vinifies thousands of hectolitres! Union Champagne is composed
of eleven cooperative cellars, over 1,000 hectares of vines, and has almost 2,000 members who all have to bring
their entire harvests to one of the eleven pressing centres.
A key partner of the Champagne trade, Union Champagne supplies a large number of houses with vins clairs, including for their Prestige cuvée blends. It has to be said that
the house has some convincing points in its favour, namely its superbly situated terroirs: 60% are classed as grand cru and 30% as premier cru, notably in the heart of the Côte des Blancs. A turning point for the intelligently-managed cellar came at the beginning of the 1990s when, without cutting itself off from the trade, it took advantage
of the economic situation to develop its own brands,
such as De Saint Gall. Two million of these bottles
are sold, with a top-of-the-range positioning,
for the restaurant trade. "