Alexandre Kowal-Copinet

The Climb

Winemaking at Champagne Marie Copinet is the current brief for Alexandre Kowal-Copinet, and the role sits on top of a practice built around the passage from vineyard to cellar. The work reads less like a single gesture than a sequence of decisions: what the site gives, what the cellar preserves, and what time is allowed to clarify.

Today

At Champagne Marie Copinet, Kowal-Copinet works on wines that include Nos Pas Dans...la craie Brut Nature. Within this range, he has described a philosophy that is as exacting as it is expressive: “Our range is made up of several approaches: a range of varied terroirs, a range influenced by aging in wood, and a range raised in the earth of its terroir.” The framework is plain enough, but it tells you what is being protected in the cellar: difference, texture, and the marks of origin. That cellar philosophy also extends to village Chardonnays, where the emphasis turns inward, toward origin and return. “For our village Chardonnays, it is a real return to basics, since they return to their soil for aging.” The line is practical, not ornamental. It points to a method in which the wine remains in conversation with the ground that made it.

Signature

Alexandre's signature wines include Argilla Villonissa, Brut Millésime 'Monsieur Léonard' 2009, Nos Pas Dans...la craie Brut Nature, Nos Pas Dans l'Argile Nature, and Nos Pas Dans la Terre Complanté Nature. Read together, these names place the work in a register of earth, structure, and precision. They point to a style that keeps terroir visible while letting cellar choices shape the final form.

In Their Words “Our range is made up of several approaches: a range of varied terroirs, a range influenced by aging in wood, and a range raised in the earth of its terroir.” “For our village Chardonnays, it is a real return to basics, since they return to their soil for aging.”

Recognition

His own explanation of the project’s intent is direct: “We wanted to retain the mineralogy and the dynamics of the wines.” That sentence sets the standard for the work. The aim is to keep the mineral register and the movement of the wines intact while they take shape, rather than sanding them down into one fixed style.