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News
New cellar master at Taittinger
Alexandre Ponnavoy has officially taken over as the new chef de cave at Champagne Taittinger, taking over from the longstanding Loïc Dupont.
Ponnavoy officially took over on Monday this week (21 May), he has worked at Taittinger since 2015 as Dupont’s deputy.
Dupont has been making wine at Taittinger for 30 years.
Originally from Dijon, Ponnavoy did a maters in agronomy at the Institut Jules Guyot (University of Burgundy) and ENITA (National School of Engineering in Agricultural Techniques).
Afterwards he left for Champagne where he obtained a masters in oenology in Reims.
He joined Louis Roederer where he also spent some time at Roederer Estate in California before joining the Station Oenotechnique de Champagne as an oenology consultant in 2007.
In that role he provided advice and support to more than 150 properties, dealers and partners in Champagne and abroad.
His new role at the house was announced last week at the launch of the latest release of the 2007 vintage of Taittinger’s prestige cuvée Comtes de Champagne which is now being offered by merchants.
As Ponnavoy was only joining the SOEC in 2007, the wine is obviously the work of his forebear Dupont. The 2007 Comtes is just the 35th vintage produced since 1952 and as usual it is a blanc de blancs made exclusively from Chardonnay grown in the grand cru sites of Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger in the Côtes des Blancs.
Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger commented: “This great 2007 vintage lives up to all expectations as soon as you open the bottle. It is the second vintage made during my presidency, when I took over with my son Clovis and daughter Vitalie. It is truly the soul of Taittinger.”