May 2026

This month, we are featuring one producer, COSE, with two completely different wines! While both are 100% Meunier, they're grown in different regions of the Champagne terroir by two very different farmers. This isn’t traditional champagne production, big house negociants or small growers it’s something totally new: the rise of the micro-negociant. 

 

Champagne has long been defined by the battle between big houses that buy the majority of their grapes and small growers that produce with only the grapes they grow. It has been a hard forced dichotomy that is not entirely born out in the region. It is an easy bifurcation for press and collectors but one that has been blurred in reality for quite some time. Producers like Marguet, Bereche, Paillard and so many others have technically been Negociants for quite some time because they buy more than 5% of their grapes and legally fit this category. That has, however, not changed the quality or perception of their wines and in some cases, it has helped more than it has hurt in both reams. 

 

Vineyard ownership and the idea that big is bad and small is good no longer fits with the reality on the ground. The overlap, no longer a simple Venn-Diagram, is far more complex and must be understood in a new way. It is forcing us to drink differently.

 

In the micro-negociant model the question is no longer who owns the land but how is it farmed and who makes the decisions. The answer is Gil Conjeo and Victor Allier, friends and winemakers for Champagne COSE.

Meet Champagne COSE

Champagne COSE is charting a path not many in Champagne would attempt. In 2022 they began producing wines under their own label with grapes carefully selected from growers that shared their philosophy of vineyard ethics and plots that produce exceptional wines.

 

Their goal was to take organically or biodynamically farmed grapes and turn them in to their vision of the new Champagne: A new generation of wines that are harvested at full maturity without the help of chemical pesticides and raised in used barrels (by Selosse for most of them) in a small controlled environment where they make the decisions that will shape the final wines. The quality of the wine is finally more important in the conversation than the ownership contracts filed at city hall. 

 

Each year they will release three single vineyard wines from different growers and villages. They will feature one of the three main grapes individually. Their first release of 2022 is Bryan Marx's Meunier from Venteuil, Roland Champion's Chardonnay from Chouilly and Pinot Noir from Domaine de Bichery in the Aube. These wines are extremely rare, with less than 1,000 bottles of each created.

 

Find out more about Champagne COSE on Cage Imports. 

 

The Wines

We're sharing two spectacular examples of Meunier. You can grab all three bottles from Champagne COSE in our Shop.

For both of these wines, their soils are both extremely diverse and hold a high proportion of excellent winemakers. You could categorize them both as excellent villages for growing and making champagne. The more striking part is how we can see two wines both from 2023, both from 100% Meunier that express their individual upbringing so wildly differently. This is a true masterclass in terroir and in Meunier. We hope you love them as much as we do. 

Don't miss Garth's One Bottle Review from Champagne COSE.

La Pucelle from Thomas Perseval in the village of Chamery in the Montagne de Reims is from a single single vineyard grown on sand and clay-limestone. The amphitheater of vines allow for an excellent northwest exposure making it one of the best plots for Meunier in the village. Only 1,632 bottles were produced, and we received less than 100 in the U.S.   Why we love it: These are knockout champagnes. The Meunier shows through with red fruit hints like strawberry and plum.   The Vibe:  Friend dinner with homemade mushroom pizzas.

Les Terres Bleues is from the Valle de la Marne village of Vandieres. This single plot is farmed organically by Flavien Nowack, and the grapes sit on a limestone and Marne clay mixture. Only 1,632 bottles produced.    Why we love it: The soil imparts an entirely different profile to the wine than the standard chalky parcels. It's juicy with tart berries and minerality.   The vibe: Backyard BBQ with Chicago style hot dogs.