At A Glance
Taittinger is a Champagne house in Reims with 288 hectares of its own vines, supplemented by selected grower partners. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir stand in the vineyards around Château de la Marquetterie, while the wines mature below the city in chalk cellars; the result is a range built from broad sourcing but anchored in a physical Reims cellar.
The Producer
Taittinger combines estate fruit with grapes from winegrowing partners chosen for rigorous, sustainable work. Its 288-hectare holding is described by the house as Champagne’s second largest, giving the cellar a substantial base of its own fruit before blending begins. Christelle Rinville has led vineyard work from planting through harvest since 2020, linking decisions in the rows to the fruit arriving at press.
Place
Reims is both the house’s address and the place beneath which its wines rest. The Saint-Nicaise cellars sit 18 metres underground in Gallo-Roman chalk excavations, keeping the bottles below the streets of the city. Above ground, the Château de la Marquetterie stands among hillside Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines, putting two central Champagne grapes beside an old vineyard landmark rather than treating them as labels on a blend.
Soil And Site
The chalk at Saint-Nicaise is not presented as a vineyard-soil claim for every bottle; it is the material of Taittinger’s underground cellars. These excavations provide the setting for maturation, while the hillside plantings around La Marquetterie show Chardonnay and Pinot Noir growing at the estate itself. Together, the sites connect a white, porous stone beneath Reims with the fruit and bottles moving through the house.
Story
In 2005, Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger began moving the vineyards toward sustainable practice: soils were tilled, grass cover was controlled, and herbicides and insecticides were eliminated. Those choices shift attention from chemical weed control to work in the vineyard rows, with fruit from the estate entering the cellar under a more closely managed farming programme.
A year later, Pierre-Emmanuel, Vitalie and Clovis Taittinger helped return the house to family control after its sale outside the family. The ownership change did not alter the two-bottle lesson in the range: Brut Réserve remains the assembled house Champagne, while Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs is reserved for exceptional years and focuses on Chardonnay.
Vineyards And Cellar
Taittinger’s estate vines are joined by partner fruit, but the partners are selected for their commitment to sustainable viticulture. At harvest, the Murigny press is intended to handle grapes promptly, protecting fruit purity before base wines are made and blended. The consequence in the finished Champagne is not a single-vineyard claim; it is a house style assembled from estate and partner fruit while keeping freshness central.
After pressing and blending, bottles mature in the Saint-Nicaise chalk excavations beneath Reims. The 18-metre underground cellar is a concrete part of the production route: grapes arrive from the vineyard, wine is prepared for bottle ageing, and finished Champagne develops below the city rather than in a separate warehouse landscape.
Wines
Brut Réserve is the broad house blend, made to assemble fruit from Taittinger’s own vineyards and its grower network into one recognisable Champagne. Its role is to show how a large cellar works with blending: fruit, acidity and mousse are brought together in a dry sparkling wine rather than tied to a single exceptional year.
Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs occupies a narrower place in the range. It is a Chardonnay wine made only in exceptional years; 42 vintages have been released since its 1952 debut. Where Brut Réserve is the blended expression of the house, Comtes concentrates the range on one grape, longer bottle development and a vintage-specific structure.
In The Glass
Start with the contrast between the two wines’ shape. Brut Réserve should be read through its blend: fresh fruit, dry acidity and mousse working together, with the rapid handling of harvested grapes aimed at preserving fruit purity before the cellar assembles its cuvée. The finish is the useful checkpoint—clean, dry and carried by bubbles rather than oak weight.
Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs moves the attention to Chardonnay and vintage character. Its aroma and palate are framed by bottle ageing and a more focused grape source, so look for citrus and floral fruit, a firmer chalky texture, and a long dry finish. The difference is architectural: one wine balances a broad blend; the other concentrates Chardonnay from an exceptional year.
A Bottle To Understand It
Choose Brut Réserve first. It is Taittinger’s blended Champagne, bringing together estate vineyards, selected partners, prompt pressing and underground maturation in one bottle. Expect dry fruit, lively acidity, persistent mousse and a clean finish; those elements make it the most direct way to taste how the house handles scale without turning its range into a list of separate vineyard names.
Anecdote
In 2006, Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger helped his children Vitalie and Clovis regain control of the Champagne house after it had been sold outside the family the previous year. The three names matter because this was not a distant corporate transaction: Pierre-Emmanuel returned with Vitalie and Clovis to take back the business. Their return placed family control alongside the vineyards, presses and chalk cellars already operating in Reims. The house remained associated with the Taittinger family, with Pierre-Emmanuel and his children directly involved in the recovery of ownership.
Final Word
Taittinger is most useful when approached as a Reims Champagne house with two clear scales: Brut Réserve for the blended, dry, fruit-and-mousse house wine, and Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs for exceptional-year Chardonnay. The vineyard work, rapid pressing and deep chalk cellars give those bottles a concrete route from rows to finish.
Sources
- www.taittinger.com/en/the-vineyard
- www.taittinger.com/en/the-heritage
- www.taittinger.com/en/a-fine-team
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taittinger
- www.taittinger.com/en/champagnes/brut-reserve
- www.taittinger.com/en/champagnes/comtes-de-champagne-blanc-de-blancs
- fr.gaultmillau.com/en/wineries/taittinger/comtes-de-champagne-2014