Jacques Diebolt in his tiny office
When I was first invited to pour this creamy Champagne Blanc de Blanc at George Perrier’s Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia, I was admitted into a very privileged club: sommeliers at restaurants like Marc Meneau’s L’Espérance in Père-sous-Vézelay, and Gerard Vié’s Les Trois Marches in Versailles. At the time, there were only six hectares of vines, all on the southeast-facing slope below Cramant, which meant there was very little wine available. Even private customers, who drove to Cramant from Paris or Brussels after tasting the wine in a Michelin-starred restaurant, were often disappointed to find nothing for sale at Diebolt-Vallois.
More became available when Diebolt acquired vineyards in Chouilly and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger (“putting the family in debt for 100 years,” he chuckles). But more supply only attracted more sommeliers, including Eric Beaumard, the 1992 Meilleur Sommelier de France, and the 1994 Meilleur Sommelier d’Europe. Every year, he buys more than 200 cases for the cellar at Georges V in Paris. But Jacques Diebolt always seems to have wine for us, and even came himself to help us kick off Moore Brothers with a visit to our New Jersey store nearly twenty years ago.
Today his daughter Isabelle and son Arnaud are responsible for maintaining the estate
Isabelle Diebolt Sharing a laugh in the cellar
