Interview with Cédric Moussé of the Champagne house Moussé Fils

Interview with Cédric Moussé of the Champagne house Moussé Fils

A story of Meunier, Tragedy and Triomphe starring the 4 generations of the family Moussé

Interview with Cédric Moussé of the Champagne house Moussé Fils

 

 

Drive about one hour east from Paris and you’ll find yourself in

Champagne.

Here, in the valley of the Marne River, you’ll find

the bucolic village of Cuisles that Cédric Moussé calls home

and knows so well. Cédric is one of the young generation of champagne

makers and the village is  where the story of his family,

sometimes triumphant and sometimes tragic, has played out.

 

There have been 12 generations

of vignerons in the Moussé family, all of them based in

Cuisles, but it was Cédric’s great grandfather, Eugène Moussé,

who was the first to start making champagne under his own

name back in 1923.

 

His son Edmond met a young woman called Micheline, the daughter

of a soldier who was based near Cuisles in the last war. They

married in 1953 and had three boys.

 

The eldest, Jean-Marc, joined his father to run the 

family business in 1979 after completing his studies at Châtillon

sur Marne.

The two of them worked side-by-side until

Edmond’s death in 1990. 

 

In 2000 Jean-Marc’s son, Cédric, completed his degree from the

viticultural college in Avize and then went straight off in

search of new experiences.

 

His travels took him as far afield as California but also to places

nearer to home such as Château Trocard in Pomerol. On his return

to Cuisles his father decided to put Cédric in charge

of the vineyards.

 

“From 2003 until 2007 he insisted that I stay in the vineyards.

He didn’t want to let me anywhere near the cellars! However

Cuisles and the neighbouring villages are unique and I

needed time to get to know all the different terroirs” says Cédric.

 

And so father and son worked together until they had the

idea of building an ‘Eco-responsible’ winery.

 

In 2005 Didier GIMONNET, of Champagne Gimonnet et Fils and

Jean-Pierre VAZART of Champagne Vazart-Coquart Fils approached

Cédric and invited him to join the Club Trésors de Champagne.

Jean-Marc let Cédric decide whether, or not, to accept the

invitation.

Cédric was certainly interested but only on the

understanding that he would be allowed to create a 100% Meunier

champagne for the Special Club. It was to be the first of

its kind.

 

Whenever anyone asked Jean-Marc

his view on whether Meunier was a lesser quality varietal

than Pinot Noir or Chardonnay, he would

reply: 

“I couldn’t disagree more. I understandthat it suits the

big houses to say that because it allows

them to buy lots of grapes at low prices,

but it’s not true. You can make superb wines from Meunier. It

has aromas that you just don’t find in other varietals. Yes,

Pinot Noir is more complete and powerful, but it doesn’t have

the fruitiness of Meunier. We absolutely love Meunier here.”

 

Cédric’s father Jean-Marc lost his life in a tragic accident in

December 2013, just two months after the end of the harvest.

“What can you? That’s life and some days are just plain difficult,”

recalls Cedric. « 2013 would have been such a wonderful

year too ; the harvest was late, in October, but it turned

out to be the first year I had to make the wines on my own. »

 

In fact Jiles Halling made a short video of that 2013 harvest

at Champagne Moussé Fils and at the end of the video

you can see how passionate and vibrant Jean-Marc was.

He loved his work and his life and was very proud to see what his

 

Discover the full range of Champagne Moussé Files here

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