For one of Champagne’s most forward-thinking producers, Drappier has no shortage of historic roots. An eighth-generation family business, the house was founded in 1808 and occupies magnificent twelfth-century cellars built by Cistercian monks. Indeed, members of this monastic order travelled up from Burgundy to the Aube region nearly a millennium ago and planted the early ancestor of Pinot Noir. In the early twentieth century, however, Pinot Noir had fallen out of favour in the region. Drappier could sense its potential and was the first to replant it in the 1930s, earning ridicule from neighbours until the quality advantages became clear.