Champagne Devaux

At A Glance

Field: Detail
Producer type: Champagne cooperative
Base: Bar-sur-Seine, in the Côte des Bar
Regional setting: Southern Champagne appellation
Grape focus: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Augusta Brut
Named wines: Augusta Brut and Cœur des Bar Rosé

The Producer

Jules and Auguste Devaux launched the house in 1846. Three women successively directed it. In 1987, Jean-Pol Auguste Devaux, the last of the family line and without an heir, entrusted the brand to Union Auboise. Champagne Devaux is identified as a cooperative based in Bar-sur-Seine.

In 2023, the wider Union Auboise operation had more than 800 growers supplying 1,400 hectares of Côte des Bar vineyards. Devaux's grower members follow a house charter stricter than the appellation requirements, including sustainable viticulture, technical monitoring at key stages of the growing season, and parcel selection for Collection D.

Place

The Côte des Bar occupies the southern part of the Champagne appellation between Bar-sur-Seine and Bar-sur-Aube. Champagne Devaux's cellar is at Hameau de Villeneuve, where the house occupies the Manor of Villeneuve in a wooded park beside the Seine.

The vineyard network shapes the handling of the fruit. Pressing takes place as close as possible to the areas where the grapes are picked. Shortening the journey from vineyard to press helps preserve the condition of freshly harvested fruit before fermentation.

Wines

The named range includes Augusta Brut and Cœur des Bar Rosé. Augusta Brut combines Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Cœur des Bar Rosé is a rosé Champagne. Collection D uses parcel selection, giving the range a bottle category built around specific vineyard areas.

The Classiques blends use only first press wines, the earliest and gentlest fraction released during pressing. Reserve wines from preceding harvests are aged mainly in oak foudres, large vessels that allow gradual oxygen exchange while adding less oak flavour than small barrels. After secondary fermentation, Devaux gives its Champagnes extended maturation in bottle.

Augusta Brut can show baked apple, black pepper and background woodiness, with a long brioche finish. Another tasting found lemon rind, green apple and a creamy brioche mid palate.

Final Word

Champagne Devaux combines a Bar-sur-Seine cooperative vineyard network with first press Classiques blends, oak foudre reserve wines, and extended bottle maturation. Augusta Brut brings Chardonnay and Pinot Noir into the named range, while Cœur des Bar Rosé adds a rosé cuvée.

At A Glance

The Producer

Place

Wines

Final Word

Sources

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