Champagne Hugues Godmé is a small grower located in the Grand Cru village, Verzenay, in the northern Montagne de Reims. Started by Hugues Godmé and his daughter Lucille Godmé They own a total of seven and a half hectares that cover four villages in the north and east of the Grand Montagne and west in the Petite Montagne. Overall, the winery has three hectares of Chardonnay, 2.80 hectares of Pinot Noir and 1.80 hectares of Meunier. Their vines average 30 years-old and the oldest are more than 60 years-old.

The Godmé family have been vignerons since the 19th century. Hugues’ grandfather, Joseph, began bottling after WWII and his father followed suit. Hugues received his first vineyard in 1976, a gift upon his graduation from viticulture school. All of this to say, Hugues broke generations of tradition when he made the decision to change the way the family vineyards were farmed. In 2006 he began to farm organically, becoming certified organic in 2013. Biodynamic certification came the following year in 2014.  Since making the change to biodynamic farming, the vineyards are healthier and more resistant to disease and Godmé is now part of the biodynamic winegrowers association, Biodyvin. Today, Hugues’ daughter, Lucille, continues her father’s commitment to farming practices that enrich both the wines and the land on which they grow.

In the cellar, they work with spontaneous fermentations in neutral oak and enamel-lined cement tanks. They move juice by gravity to retain fresh aromas and each parcel is vinified separately to respect each terroir. The top wines are vinified directly in the barrel. Malolactic fermentation happens sometimes and there are no efforts to stop or encourage it. The second fermentation happens in their cellar carved out of chalk right below one of their vineyards in Verzenay.

Nowhere is the benefit of healthy vines more evident than Godmé’s collection of single-vineyard cuveés. Vinified in a minimalist fashion, with no dosage, the aim is to highlight the individual character of each vineyard. The wines are extremely limited, but they promise great reward to anyone wise enough to seek them out.