Champagne Jean Josselin

Gyé-sur-Seine, Côte des Bar | Récoltant-Manipulant | Terra Vitis Certified

The Josselin family have been growing grapes in the village of Gyé-sur-Seine since 1854. Jean Josselin himself established the Champagne house in 1957. Today, Jean-Félix Josselin, the third generation, farms 11.7 hectares across 14 parcels, and every bottle in this collection is the direct product of that land, that family, and their specific winemaking choices. No purchased fruit. No blending house. No brand tax.

Each cuvée is explained with the technically curious in mind, what makes it stylistically distinct, and why it matters in the context of Champagne as a whole.

Why Pay Jean Josselin Any Attention?

The Côte des Bar: Champagne's Southern Outlier

The Côte des Bar sits 100 kilometres south of Reims—closer geographically to Chablis in Burgundy than to the great Champagne houses of Épernay. It is a region that spent decades in the shadows, its fruit sold anonymously to large négociant houses to add body and weight to their blends. The récoltant-manipulant movement has changed that, and producers like Jean Josselin; making wine from their own land, under their own name; are the reason the Côte des Bar is now understood as a distinctive and serious subregion in its own right.

Kimmeridgian Soils: The Chablis Connection

The northern zones of Champagne such as the Montagne de Reims, the Côte des Blancs, and the Vallée de la Marne, sit on Cretaceous chalk: pure, white, free-draining, the geology most closely associated with the lean, mineral, precise style of classic Champagne. The Côte des Bar is different. It rests on Kimmeridgian limestone, an Upper Jurassic formation, rich in clay, marl, and fossilised marine sediments; think compressed oyster shells, sea urchins, and microscopic organisms from the floor of the ancient Tethys Sea.

This is the same geology that underlies the Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards of Chablis, 30 kilometres to the south. WSET students who have tasted Chablis will recognise the connection: a mineral tension and textural weight that is different in character from chalk-derived minerality. Where Cretaceous chalk produces precision and vertical drive, Kimmeridgian clay-limestone produces body, fruit depth, and richness. Jean Josselin's Champagnes carry this distinction in every glass.

Récoltant-Manipulant (RM) vs. Négociant-Manipulant (NM)

Every bottle of Champagne carries a two-letter producer code. It is one of the most informative pieces of text on the label and one of the least read.

NM—Négociant-Manipulant: Purchases grapes, must, or wine from other growers and produces wine under their own brand. This is the model used by Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Laurent-Perrier, and most large-volume Champagne brands. The goal is consistency at scale—a house style that remains recognisable across millions of bottles and across many vintages. A remarkable achievement, but one that by design transcends any single place or season.

RM—Récoltant-Manipulant: Grows their own grapes and makes their own wine in their own press and winemaking facilities. Everything in the bottle comes from their own land. Jean Josselin is RM. The wines cannot be the same every year, because the land and the climate are not the same every year, and that variability is not a flaw. It is what makes the wine worth drinking.

Extra-Brut

Every cuvée in this collection carries a dosage of 2–3.5 g/L, which is firmly in the extra-brut category, and at the drier end of what most houses produce. Dosage (the addition of sugar and wine after disgorgement) has traditionally been used to balance and finish Champagne, and at higher levels it can compensate for underripe fruit or mask imperfections in the base wine. At extra-brut levels, there is no room for that. The fruit must be right at harvest, and the base wine must be strong enough to finish on its own terms.

Jean Josselin's vinification is consistent across the range: complete malolactic fermentation; two press extractions; no filtration; no cold stabilisation. The result is Champagne with genuine texture, a present mineral backbone, and a finish that does not rely on sweetness.

The Cuvées

Cuvée des Jean Extra-Brut NV

Blanc de Noirs | 100% Pinot Noir | ~2 years on lees | Dosage: 2 g/l

The flagship of the range and the clearest single expression of what Jean Josselin does. Made entirely from Pinot Noir—the dominant variety of the Côte des Bar—and vinified as a blanc de noirs: the skins are separated from the juice early in pressing, preserving colour while the wine ferments clear.

The nose shows white stone fruit, fresh apple, and citrus with gentle autolytic (lees-derived) notes from two years in bottle. The palate is linear and focused, with bright acidity and a crisp, precise finish.

The blanc de noirs style demonstrates how Pinot Noir expresses itself when separated from its pigment and the structural and aromatic contribution of the variety without any of the phenolic influence of skin contact. The contrast with a Chardonnay-dominant Côte des Blancs Champagne is instructive: the body and fruit weight here are distinctly different, and clearly connected to both the variety and the Kimmeridgian terroir.

Cuisine Magazine #1 Champagne in New Zealand, 2020. Silver Medal, New Zealand International Wine Show 2018 & 2022.

Alliance Extra-Brut R.22

70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay | 2022 harvest | Dosage: 2.5 g/l

The two-variety blend: Pinot Noir providing structure, body, and fruit weight; Chardonnay contributing freshness, acidity, and aromatic lift. The R.22 designation refers to the récolte (harvest) year — this is a non-vintage wine drawn predominantly from the 2022 harvest, without the addition of older reserve wines. A transparency about origins that is characteristic of a grower who is confident in what each year produces.

The nose opens with acacia, quince, and mint. On the palate, the Chardonnay's freshness makes its mark at entry; the Pinot Noir builds through the mid-palate with an elegant, flattering fruitiness, finishing with a clean lemony brightness.

At 70/30, the Alliance allows the contribution of each variety to be clearly read in the wine—the Pinot Noir's structural warmth set against the Chardonnay's precision. This is a useful comparative wine alongside the 100% Pinot Noir cuvées in the range: the influence of Chardonnay on a Pinot-dominant blend is directly perceptible. The R.22 designation also raises the discussion of single-harvest non-vintage wines versus reserve-wine blends, and what each approach gives or costs in terms of complexity and consistency.

Aux Origines Millésime Extra-Brut 2019

Blanc de Noirs Millésime | 100% Pinot Noir | 2019 vintage | Dosage: 2 g/l

Aux Origines, 'back to the origins', is Jean Josselin's statement vintage Blanc de Noirs. One hundred percent Pinot Noir from a single harvest, no reserve wines, no filtration, no cold stabilisation. The 2019 vintage in Champagne was warm and generous, with high natural sugars and excellent phenolic maturity; the wines have the concentration and presence to carry the extra-brut style with authority.

The nose is complex and developed: dominant secondary & tertiary aromas of brioche, honey, biscuit, cooked pear, cinnamon, and liquorice—the product of extended lees contact and bottle age. The palate is full-bodied, with a long, balanced finish that reflects both the warmth of the vintage and the precision of the winemaking.

Development from autolysis (the breakdown of dead yeast cells during lees ageing) is clearly present and identifiable here—a direct illustration of what extended bottle contact produces in practice. The vintage character of 2019 is also legible in the wine's weight and ripeness. This is a valuable comparative tasting against any NV Champagne in the range: the absence of reserve wines means the vintage's specific character is unmediated, and the difference is perceptible.

Audace Extra-Brut R.22

Rosé de Saignée | 100% Pinot Noir | 2022 harvest | Dosage: 2.5 g/l

The most technically distinctive wine in the range, and the one most likely to prompt discussion. Rosé Champagne is permitted under AOC rules to be made by either of two methods. The assemblage method is where the winemaker blends a small proportion of still red Pinot Noir wine into the base white wine before secondary fermentation. This used by virtually all large-volume producers because it is controllable and consistent at scale.

Audace uses the saignée method instead. A proportion of the Pinot Noir grapes are sorted, de-stemmed, and macerated on their skins for 24 to 36 hours before the juice is extracted and fermented. This skin contact extracts colour, phenolics, and aromatic complexity in a way that assemblage rosé does not, and the result is immediately apparent in the glass.

The colour is a deep, saturated red, far more vivid than typical rosé Champagne. The nose is built around forest fruits, red currant, and raspberry. The palate is rich, structured, and fruit-driven, with a red currant and liquorice finish.

The saignée method is rarer in Champagne than in most other rosé-producing appellations, and the visual and aromatic difference from an assemblage rosé is a revealing side-by-side tasting. The choice of saignée is a grower's choice—it requires confidence in the fruit and precision in the cellar, and it produces a wine with a character and intensity that reflects the raw material rather than the blending table.

Les Blancs Millésime Extra-Brut 2020

Blanc de Blancs Millésime | 100% Chardonnay | 3+ years on lees | Dosage: 2 g/l

In a range built on Pinot Noir, Les Blancs is the deliberate counterpoint: 100% Chardonnay from the Josselin family's own parcels, aged for a minimum of three years on lees before disgorgement. Two press extractions are used to capture full expression from the fruit. No filtration, no cold stabilisation.

The 2020 vintage produced wines of freshness and precision. Brilliant light yellow with green glints; persistent fine bubbles. The nose offers apricot, grilled almond, spice, butter, and a clear mineral character. On the palate, peachy and pear fruit is framed by spice with a harmonious, focused finish.

Chardonnay from Kimmeridgian clay-limestone behaves differently to the Côte des Blancs expressions most associated with prestige blanc de blancs. Where Grand Cru Cretaceous chalk (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Cramant) typically produces vertical precision, fine-boned structure, and a lean mineral quality, the clay content of the Côte des Bar contributes more body, weight, and textural richness. The three years on lees adds brioche, almond, and biscuit complexity from autolysis. Tasted alongside the Cuvée des Jean, this wine directly demonstrates what happens when you substitute Chardonnay for Pinot Noir on the same terroir.

Contexture Extra-Brut R.22

50% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot Meunier | 2022 harvest | Dosage: 2.5 g/l

The only wine in the Jean Josselin range to include all three traditional Champagne varieties. Chardonnay-dominant, with Pinot Meunier providing roundness and early approachability, and Pinot Noir contributing structural depth. The producer describes it as the 'classic nose for the traditional Champagne blend'.  In the context of a range built around single-variety and two-variety expressions, this is exactly the right lens through which to taste it.

Pale yellow; fine, creamy bubbles. Mineral and spice on the nose with subtle white flower and red fruit notes. Almost soft as it hits the mouth, with a long, sustained, and structured development through to the finish.

Pinot Meunier is the most discussed and least tasted of the three classic Champagne varieties in a formal education context. Here it plays a specific and identifiable role: fruitiness and roundness in the mid-palate, bridging the Chardonnay's freshness and the Pinot Noir's structure. This wine also allows a direct discussion of the traditional assemblage philosophy: why three varieties work as a system, what each contributes, and how the blend achieves balance that no single variety could produce alone. Tasted alongside the single-varietal wines in this collection, the difference is illuminating.

The Range at a Glance

Tasting the Range

The six wines in this collection are designed, consciously or not, to function as a structured tasting of what Kimmeridgian Pinot Noir can do, with Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier as supporting voices. A suggested tasting order for a comparative session:

Contexture R.22: the three-variety blend as reference point
Alliance R.22: two varieties; Pinot Noir dominant but Chardonnay clearly audible
Cuvée des Jean NV: 100% Pinot Noir blanc de noirs; variety isolated
Les Blancs 2020: 100% Chardonnay; the varietal counterpoint
Aux Origines 2019: 100% Pinot Noir millésime; vintage and autolysis
Audace R.22: Rosé de Saignée; skin contact and method comparison

Jean Josselin Champagne is exclusively imported into New Zealand by Three French Vines. Fast delivery nationwide—next business day to the North Island, two days to the South Island.

Questions about the range? Contact us at tim@threefrenchvines.co.nz