In 1986, Eric Dhondt and Edith Grellet made a pivotal decision to stop selling their grapes to negociants and founded Dhondt-Grellet. Their philosophy focused on farming with integrity, resulting in honest Champagnes crafted from some of the finest holdings in the Côte des Blancs. What began with just two hectares has since tripled in size, and the Domaine started to gain attention when Adrien took over winemaking in 2012 at the age of 22. With the support of his sister Alice, Adrien has steadily expanded their range of Champagnes by focusing on pure expressions of Chardonnay, sourced from their parcels in Cramant and Cuis.

In addition to his work at the domaine, Adrien recently launched a small negociant project, driven by his curiosity to explore styles beyond the boundaries of his family’s own creations.

Since the inception of estate bottling in 1986, the Dhondt family has employed a perpetual reserve system. Each year, after drawing off 30% of the reserve for the new year’s tirage, Adrien replenishes the loss by blending in wine saved from the new vintage. This blend is then racked to barrel, along with the fresh lees of the current vintage, typically in May.

As harvest time approaches and empty barrels are needed, the perpetual reserve is returned to tank, completing the cycle. This process is repeated annually, ensuring that the domaine’s barrels are always full and ready for the next vintage.

Adrien primarily works with parcels in two villages: Cramant (Grand Cru) and Cuis (Premier Cru). In Cramant, he produces a single Grand Cru wine, “Le Bateau,” sourced from a plot on La Butte de Saran, widely regarded as the best terroir in Cramant. This vineyard, planted by Adrien’s great-grandfather in 1951, is the oldest on the Domaine and sits on clay and limestone soils over a chalky subsoil. The vineyard’s southern exposure benefits from ample sunlight, while the high limestone content in the soil ensures good drainage and prevents excess moisture retention.

Meanwhile, Cuis shares a similar geological profile with Cramant but has a bit more topsoil. Adrien works across nine plots in Cuis, with many of them consisting of old-vine Chardonnay.

Adrien uses organic & biodynamic practices but he is not seeking certification, preferring to work in the spirit of what he calls “peasant viticulture,” using no synthetic products, no herbicides or insecticides, enriching his soils with homemade compost and, as of Spring 2021, plowing each plot with his horse, Thor. His philosophy is to have a living soil with a healthy balance between microbial life and the vine.  In the vines, there’s a lot of manual work: he prunes short and debuds severely to limit yields and produce ripe, concentrated fruit at harvest time. He often cites inspiration from great Burgundy estates by practicing plot selection. 

In the cellar, Dhondt has moved almost completely to  barrel fermentation with ambient yeasts, filling his fûts after a very short six hours’ settling (or débourbage) and adding minimal sulfur dioxide. The vins clairs spend eight months on the lees before tirage without cold stabilization, filtering or fining.

During those eight months of élevage, the wines are topped up when Dhondt deems it is appropriate judicious, “about every month and a half, I’d say, but I decide whether to top up—and whether to perform bâtonnage—by tasting.”

Again the influence of Burgundy is evident in the texture and vinosity – Adrien cites Coche-Dury, Vincent Dancer and Jean-Yves Bizot among his inspirations.