Champagne Simon Legrand

The SIMON family has been cultivating AOC Champagne vines since 1913. It is Ernest Simon, born in 1885, who planted the first 6 ares of the estate with his wife at the entrance of the village, rue Pasteur. The vine was only a secondary activity, since at the time the farm was mainly agricultural. Cows (with sale of fresh milk, cream, butter), pigs, sheep, rabbits and other poultry were part of the farm, along with some farmland and pastures. In 1942, Georges, Ernest's son (my grandfather) replanted 16 ares in the place called "le Chaufour". In the past, he used to deliver his grapes to Piper-Heidsieck, which were crushed (as today) at the pressing cooperative of Nogentel. (7 min. by tractor from Nesles). When Michel and Monique (my parents) took over the business, the farm turned to Champagne, and increased its vineyard area to reach 1.5 ha of planted vines, with plots such as "Les Pierreries" and "Les recettes". It is from there that the first bottles sold under the name of Champagne SIMON-LEGRAND were born in 1998. In 2000, I set up a company with my parents to create the EARL SIMON-LEGRAND. Today, the estate has 3.5 hectares of vines (owned and rented). Cows, sheep and pigs are no longer with us. There are still some poultry and rabbits left for the pleasure of our visitors. The Champagne part of the estate is now dominant and should continue to evolve, as projects such as the creation of a wine press, a cellar and a wine cellar are under study. From now on, the best is yet to come...since with Virginie, we have enlarged the family and so the next generation will probably be assured in a few years with...Axel and Astrid.