A new champagne house was unveiled in Berlin in December: Maison Pompadour. Paul-François Vranken called it ‘the first house of the 21st century’. The founder of the group, which has been operating under the name Pommery & Associé since 1 January, took the opportunity to personally present the brand at its premiere outside France. At the same time, the core Pommery brand has also been significantly upgraded. This applies in particular to the relaunch of the upmarket Apanage line, the 150 Ans anniversary cuvée and the new appreciation of the Cuvée Louise. Before I go into detail about Maison Pompadour and the new Pommery cuvées, Paul-François Vranken explains the current changes. He is assisted by Chef de Cave (and now Deputy General Manager) Clément Pierlot, who also travelled to Berlin. The fact that Germany enjoyed the privilege of being the first country outside France to host Maison Pompadour is certainly also thanks to the strong position of Pommery’s German representation under Thomas Wirz.
The interview
STEFAN PEGATZKY: Last year, there were significant changes at Vranken-Pommery Monopole that completely transformed the group. One chapter came to an end and a new one began. How do you feel today?
PAUL-FRANÇOIS VRANKEN: The change on 1 January 2025 only affected personnel. My wife Nathalie now heads the group as General Manager in my place [while he remains President of the Board of Directors, SP]. And Clément Pierlot, our Chef de Cave, is now one of her deputies. The second change, effective 1 January 2026, is very significant: the company is now called Champagne Pommery & Associé. We did this because we wanted to further strengthen Pommery, which was already a globally established brand.
The name Vranken has now been dropped. What is the future of the house named after you?
I don’t know. The only thing I know is that we did everything necessary to make Pommery even stronger. That meant we had to drop the name Vranken. Before, there was some confusion, especially in Germany. Now, that confusion no longer exists.
The sale of Heidsieck Monopole
You sold Champagne Heidsieck & Co. Monopole last year. You had acquired the brand in 1996, several years before Pommery. That was at a time when the French market was still very strong and inexpensive champagnes were booming in supermarkets. Today, exports are also more important for you, and that requires premiumisation, i.e. higher-quality champagnes. Is that why you sold Heidsieck?
Yes, we sold Heidsieck because we decided to grow. We wanted to have one more brand in order to move forward, to further premiumise the group, as you say.
Initially, it was said that Heidsieck was to be sold to your Compagnie Vranken. Then suddenly Lanson-BCC was confirmed as the buyer. How did that come about?
We announced the sale of Heidsieck on 5 June [2025]. When we were ready the next day, we received two offers, one from Lanson-BCC and another from a different bidder, whom I don’t want to name. We chose Lanson-BCC because of the quality of their offer.
Within Lanson-BBC, the sale was handled by Maison Burtin. This brings us full circle. Its founder had once given you access to the world of champagne. And President Bruno Paillard is, like you, in a sense an outsider in the world of champagne, who, like you, built an entire group from scratch. Did that have anything to do with your decision?
Yes, that also played a role. I get on excellently with Bruno Paillard; we are both ‘Propriétaires en Champagne’ [i.e. owners of champagne houses, SP].
Maison Pompadour
Let’s move on to your new Maison Pompadour, whose birth we are celebrating today. Even the entry-level cuvée, ‘La Réserve’, has an unusual feature. This concerns the so-called dosage, the ‘liqueur d’expédition’. Could you explain this, please?
First of all, the heart of the house lies in the origin of the grapes, especially, of course, from the eponymous Clos Pompadour. The base wines of ‘La Réserve’ come from different communes [unlike the single-vineyard champagne ‘Clos Pompadour’, SP].
CLÉMENT PIERLOT: But we blend the contents of magnum bottles from the single vineyard Clos Pompadour in tanks to produce the shipping liqueur, which is then stored in sandstone eggs.
PFV: This is unique; no one has ever done this before. Returning the magnums to the production cycle (‘remise en cercle’) demonstrates the cellar master’s savoir-faire. This is what makes this product so extraordinary.
It took several years and many stages to grow and create a very significant house. I had actually already discovered this Grande Maison when I joined Pommery 23 years ago. As a champagne house, it was of course significant in its own right, especially due to its perpetual reserves. Once we realised this, it motivated everyone to create a new house. And it was very important to us to show that we were capable of truly bringing this Grande Maison to life.
The self-image as a Grande Marque
A good ten years ago, you commissioned a huge, very modern production facility in Tours-sur-Marne. Just as you would expect from a major brand. Today, you produce a single-vineyard champagne with Clos Pompadour. Does this also have to do with the changed self-image of the Grandes Marques, which today increasingly want to be perceived as winegrowers?
I don’t think so, and I’m not convinced that this is the right approach. Why? You can’t take this attitude if you want to guarantee consistent product quality and a consistent taste. Let’s take an example. Moët & Chandon has a very clearly defined taste. Everyone picks up a bottle of Moët and knows it’s Moët. You pick up a bottle of Pommery and know it’s Pommery. And it will be the same with Pompadour. That’s what it means to be a Grande Marque! You can’t achieve that without the entire range of the organisation, whether it’s vineyard management or wine production.
CLÉMENT PIERLOT: It must be said that the big houses have always had this, the réserve perpétuelle, the multi-vintages. We just never talked about it, but now we do. It’s not really a winemaker’s narrative. What has changed is that the new generation of winemakers is more interested in the vineyard. But this change took place many years ago.
Markets in turbulencies
You are founding a new maison at a time that is not favourable for champagne and the global economy as a whole. David Chatillon, president of the Union des Maisons de Champagne, has said that the appellation is currently experiencing a ‘perfect storm’. Do you see it that way?
No, I would say we are coming out of the storm. I think it will only last another three or four months. Sales are picking up in many markets, in Germany, Benelux and the United Kingdom. Things will normalise. We had a difficult time for a year or two. But Champagne has been through some very serious crises. Think of the early 1970s or 1990s, or the year 2008. We are currently in the process of recovering, and I think that we are doing everything we can in our company to emerge from the crisis. So that champagne will soon be back in the spotlight as the greatest of all wines.
Nevertheless, the markets are currently undergoing significant change. Where do you see future opportunities for Champagne?
The biggest future market for us would be South America. That’s why I’m in favour of Mercosur, even though French agriculture as a whole is strictly against it. Then there’s Africa, which mustn’t be neglected, especially South Africa. And we’re making important progress in South Korea, where we have our own subsidiary. But I also see a positive future in Germany, in the whole of Europe – as soon as the war in Ukraine is finally over.
It took several years and many stages to grow and create a very significant establishment. … And it was very important to us to show that we were capable of truly bringing this Grande Maison to life.
Paul-François Vranken
Pompadour: From prestigious cuvée to its own maison
The maison is named after a 25-hectare vineyard in the heart of Reims, part of the Domaine Pommery. In 2002, following the sale of Pommery by LVMH, it was the only vineyard that passed into the ownership of Paul-François Vranken. He immediately recognised its potential and had single-vineyard champagnes bottled here under the Pommery label. Exclusively as magnums and only the 2002, 2003 and 2004 vintages. However, Vranken founded Maison Pompadour as a subsidiary of Vranken-Pommery Monopole in 2003, without initially making it public.
In December 2025, the first two cuvées were presented. One was the non-vintage ‘La Réserve’ (60% PN|40% Ch, aged in stainless steel with complete malolactic fermentation). Its shipping dosage is composed with the help of magnums from Clos Pompadour from the 2003 vintage onwards (see above). This gives the champagne added aromatic complexity, but above all an astonishingly refined texture. The 2017 Blanc de Blancs Clos Pompadour comes entirely from the single vineyard of the same name and is vinified in sandstone eggs. Here, the freshness of the vintage combines perfectly with the autolytic aromas of long bottle fermentation. The micro-oxidative effect of the ovoid fermentation vessel also gives the champagne a fine creaminess. Further cuvées from the Maison are to follow.
150 Ans Blanc de Blancs, Apanage 1847, Cuvée Louise
By the end of 2023 at the latest, it had become clear that the group also wanted to take its core brand, Pommery, to a new level. It was then that I tasted the impressive Cuvée 150 Ans Blanc de Blancs for the first time. It had been created to mark the 150th anniversary of the Maison’s first brut champagne in 1874, which made Pommery a pioneer of dry champagne. Even more significant for the portfolio, however, was the relaunch of the Apanage 1874 range. The brut marked the beginning at ProWein 2024. It was followed the next year by the Blanc de Blancs, and now, in February 2026 in Paris, the Pommery premium line was completed with the Rosé. It is not just a new look – stylistically, too, the champagnes seem to me to be more precise and fresher than in previous years.
With the creation of the House of Pompadour, Louise (in three varieties: Brut, Brut Nature and Rosé) is now effectively Pommery’s sole prestige cuvée. It has long been overshadowed by top champagnes from other Grandes Marques. Yet its exceptionally long bottle ageing gives it a unique status – hardly any other regular cuvée appears on the market so late. Just how fantastically Louise can mature was demonstrated in January 2026 at a vertical tasting at Berlin’s KaDeWe. The champagnes from the 1989 (Blanc) and 1992 (Rosé) vintages onwards were in dazzling condition (here). The Cuvée Louise Brut 2008 has now celebrated its premiere in Paris (here) – long awaited due to the reputation of the vintage. Like all its siblings, it was still a little shy at first – given its potential, I expect the best prospects for the future.
Note: The interview was conducted largely in French and then translated by Sur-la-pointe.
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Stefan Pegatzky / Time Tunnel Images
