Our Story…
…Since 1905
Beginning in 1905, and encompassing four generations later,
we have been making champagne in Rilly-la-Montagne on a
terroir classified as « Premier Cru » in the Controlled
Appellation of Origin (AOC Champagne) in the « Montagne
de Reims ».
We are located in the heart of the Champagne region in the
“Montagne de Reims” between Reims and Epernay.
Our champagne reflects years of know-how, and passion for
the vine, the terroir and nature.
We work to preserve and enhance our heritage
but also to pass on this precious know-how from
generation to generation.
A know-how that combines tradition and modernity
It was in 1905, during the “Belle Époque”, that our ancestor Maurice Lepitre, a talented young winegrower, founded his own
Champagne House. In the heart of the Champagne vineyards, he was one of the pioneers who knew how to elaborate this
marvellous nectar, symbol of happiness and bliss…
Maurice
Marne harvests were bad between 1907 and 1910, in particular because of phylloxera, frost and storms that destroyed the vines.
Wine merchants preferred to source their grapes from outside the Marne, leaving the Marne winegrowers on the sidelines .
It is in this context that in 1905, Maurice Lepitre, had the merit of founding his own Champagne house.
His House was one of the few to have been created well before the revolt of the winegrowers in 1911 and remains one of the oldest houses in the village with half-timberings still intact today, witnesses of that time.
Unfortunately, Maurice will lose his life in the aftermath of the First World War and his wife Hélène will take over the estate on her own.
Hélène and Maurice had several children, including Marguerite.
Marguerite
She was a woman fond of art and literature who also took over the estate alone after the Second World War. She also passed on her
passion for wine, nature and the terroir of Rilly-La-Montagne to her only son, Bernard. But Marguerite suddenly died in 1981.
Bernard et Corine
As a tribute to his mother, my father a career officer destined for a brilliant future in the army, decided to take over the family
affairs in 1981 when he was twenty years old. He accomplished this thanks to his wife Corine and with the help of his in-laws
Arlette and Roger.
Adeline
The Maurice Lepitre estate is a family business, where each of us have worked for his sustainability from 1905 to 2020.
Even today, I belong to the forth generation of the family and continue the project under the benevolent gaze of my parents
Bernard and Corine and my brother Bastien. Over the years, our estate Veuve Maurice Lepitre has been
distinguished by wines whose consistent quality is still regularly confirmed by numerous awards.
