France · Vallée de la Marne

Sourdet-Diot

A Marne Valley Champagne grower showing Meunier in two forms: dry blanc de noirs and saignée rosé.

The producer

Sourdet-Diot is an independent grower in La Chapelle Monthodon, with 8.5 hectares in Champagne’s Marne Valley. The family works with Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but Meunier leads the clearest documented bottles. Pur Meunier keeps the grape pale and dry as a blanc de noirs; Rosé de Saignée takes its pink colour and red-fruit character from skin contact before pressing.

Pur Meunier spends at least three years on lees, bringing breadth beneath dry acidity and mousse. Rosé de Saignée, also 100% Meunier, spends two years on lees and carries floral notes, pomegranate fruit, fresh acidity and a gentle tannic grip. Together, the pair shows how one grape can change through cellar method.

Known for

Meunier-led Champagne, especially Pur Meunier and Rosé de Saignée.

Notable facts

The story

Two family names on the bottle

Raymond and Yvette Sourdet added vines to their agricultural activity in 1962. In 1975, their son Patrick Sourdet and his wife, Nadine Diot, began making Champagne of their own. The wines needed a house name, and the two surnames became Sourdet-Diot on the label. The move turned a family farm with vines into a Champagne-producing estate under the combined name. Ludivine, Patrick and Nadine’s daughter, now promotes the family’s Marne Valley wines.

From the atlas

Sourdet-Diot

At A Glance

Sourdet-Diot is an independent Champagne grower in La Chapelle Monthodon, in Champagne’s Marne Valley. The estate cultivates 8.5 hectares and works with Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, while its most clearly documented bottles put Meunier in the foreground. Pur Meunier is a dry blanc de noirs; Rosé de Saignée uses the same grape with skin contact for colour and red-fruit character.

The Producer

The name joins two family names and two stages of the estate’s life. Raymond and Yvette Sourdet added vines to their agricultural activity in 1962. In 1975, Patrick Sourdet and Nadine Diot began making Champagne under the combined Sourdet-Diot name. Their daughter Ludivine now promotes the Marne Valley estate, whose cuvées receive at least three years of ageing. The result is a small grower’s range in which Meunier appears as both a pale, dry sparkling wine and a deeper-coloured rosé.

Place

La Chapelle Monthodon lies in the Marne Valley, a Champagne area closely associated here with Meunier. Sourdet-Diot’s 8.5 hectares supply an estate range built from Meunier alongside Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In the documented bottles, Meunier changes shape with the winemaking: it stays white in Pur Meunier, while Rosé de Saignée takes colour and fruit character from contact between juice and skins.

Soil And Site

The estate’s documented site is La Chapelle Monthodon in the Marne Valley, but no reliable soil, slope or exposure detail is supplied for individual vineyards. The useful physical distinction is therefore not a named parcel but the grape’s treatment in bottle: Meunier is kept as blanc de noirs for Pur Meunier and given skin contact for Rosé de Saignée, producing two markedly different colours, aromas and textures.

Story

Sourdet-Diot grew from a farming family’s decision to add vines in 1962 into a Champagne house in 1975. Patrick Sourdet and Nadine Diot did not simply inherit a finished label: their combined surnames became the name on the bottles when they began making their own Champagne. That family sequence still frames the wines. A Marne Valley holding planted with three Champagne grapes has a particularly clear Meunier thread in Pur Meunier and Rosé de Saignée.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate is HVE-certified and works across Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on its 8.5 hectares. Alcoholic fermentation is maintained at 18–20°C, then the wines spend time maturing before release. Lees ageing matters in the two Meunier bottles: Pur Meunier spends at least three years on lees, while Rosé de Saignée spends two. That contact with spent yeast adds breadth and a more savoury, wine-like texture beneath the mousse; the rosé’s earlier skin contact adds colour, floral lift and red fruit.

Wines

The range’s clearest contrast comes from two 100% Meunier Champagnes. Pur Meunier is a brut non-vintage blanc de noirs with at least three years on lees and dosage reported at approximately 4 g/l. Its low dosage keeps the finish dry, while the extended lees ageing brings weight and texture rather than overt sweetness. It is Meunier in a pale, structured form: fruit, dry acidity and yeast-derived breadth held inside a fine mousse.

Rosé de Saignée uses 100% Meunier too, but the grapes remain in contact with their skins before pressing. The saignée method produces its pink colour without relying on added still red wine, and it shifts the grape towards floral notes, pomegranate and red fruit. Two years on lees and 6 g/l dosage give the rosé freshness with more body and a lightly tannic grip. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are part of the estate’s vineyard mix, though the kept material does not establish a complete current bottle list for those grapes.

In The Glass

Pur Meunier opens on fruit and lees rather than sweetness: the palate is dry, with brisk acidity, a firm line of mousse and a fuller mid-palate from its long time on lees. Its approximately 4 g/l dosage leaves room for savoury notes and a clean finish.

Rosé de Saignée is brighter in colour and more openly aromatic, with peony, rose, pomegranate and red-fruit notes. Skin contact supplies substance and gentle tannin beneath the bubbles, so the wine feels more vinous than a simple pink aperitif. Freshness carries the floral fruit through a persistent finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Rosé de Saignée. It is 100% Meunier, aged for two years on lees and dosed at 6 g/l, but its central feature is the saignée method: Meunier skins stay with the juice before pressing, creating the wine’s pink colour, floral aroma and red-fruit palate. In the glass, peony, rose and pomegranate sit above fresh acidity, mousse and a little tannic grip. One bottle makes the estate’s Meunier focus and cellar method immediately tangible.

Anecdote

Raymond and Yvette Sourdet added vines to their agricultural activity in 1962. Thirteen years later, Patrick Sourdet and his wife Nadine Diot began making Champagne of their own. The change came with a name for the bottles: Sourdet-Diot, joining Patrick’s family name with Nadine’s. What had begun as vines alongside farming became a Champagne house under the two surnames in 1975. Ludivine, Patrick and Nadine’s daughter, now promotes the family estate and its Marne Valley wines.

Final Word

Sourdet-Diot is worth seeking out for its two readings of Meunier. Pur Meunier shows the grape through dry dosage and long lees ageing; Rosé de Saignée shows it through skins, colour, floral fruit and gentle grip. Both begin in the same Marne Valley estate, then arrive in the glass by different routes.

Sources

Open Sourdet-Diot in the interactive map →