Apollonis
The secret to Martine and Michel Loriot’s Apollonis Champagne is in their love of music. Michel’s father was a sax player in the Festigny brass band, the quiet commune some 20km west of Épernay where his family have kept vines, and played music, for 10 generations. Michel does not play an instrument as such; he is too busy running a successful business. He outdoes himself, however, with his maturation technique, inspired by a visit to a Swiss winery in the 1990s. He was impressed to learn that a theory developed by scientist (and, absurdly, pop artist) Joël Sternheimer advances that vibrations from music can have a positive effect on the development of yeast autolysis during secondary fermentation in the bottle. It is something he wanted to try. He installed speakers in his wine cellar and experimented with different composers such as Mozart, Brahms, Vivaldi and Elgar. He was keen to stress Elgar’s music as among the most useful for the development of an elegant, complex style when we met in York in November 2023, but I have a feeling he secretly hankers over Jaques Dutronc.
There are many official models for a Champagne house, but, arguably the most admired on the inside are the small independents who manage the entire process from growing to bottling, known as Récoltant-Manipulants (check the back of any Champagne bottle for an ‘RM’). There are 19,000 independent growers, but only 25% of them also produce their own wine, so it is a relatively select club. The larger houses will source from up to 100 different vineyards to ensure a consistent house style, but the RMs tend to be more terroir focused; their Champagnes express the particular qualities of a grape variety and location. Martine and Michel’s calling card is Meunier. This is one of the three main Champagne grapes, alongside Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but it does not always get the attention it deserves. Krug have long thought it useful for their highly acclaimed blends, sourcing from the unfashionable Côtes de Bar, which suggests that quality is determined as much by the grower as any other factor. Ask Michel why he prefers Meunier and it is not because it is better suited to the cooler conditions of the Marne Valley; rather, it produces excellent wines.
At 50,000 bottles per year, their production is 70 times smaller than Louis Roederer. They offer the same independence of spirit and passion for excellence, only on a bespoke, family-sized scale. Dosages are low across the entire range – this allows for purity of expression and genuine varietal character. Why Apollonis? Apollonis was one of the three younger muses – along with Cephisso and Borysthenis – who were the daughters of Apollo in Greek mythology. Their names are synonymous with those of the lowest, middle, and highest chords of a lyre, the musical instrument strongly associated with ancient Greece. Michel wanted to pay homage to both his musical heritage and the women in his family. Hence his Brut Nature is named after his great-grandmother, Palmyre, and his rosé after another family member. The mystic and grandeur of the mythological connection seems equally apt for a Champagne house.
Would you like to discover Champagne Apollonis? We recommend their Authentic Meunier Brut Blanc de Noirs as a great starting point. It is unique: fresh, vibrant, fruity, and silky in equal measure, with the ability to suit a wide variety of occasions, and 100% Pinot Meunier.
