Located in Beaunay, in the Coteaux du Petit Morin, Maxime Oudiette is part of a generation of winemakers who view Champagne on a parcel-by-parcel basis.
Not through the reputation of a village or the hierarchy of crus, but through the soils, natural balances, and unique characteristics of each locality.
Before taking over the family estate, Maxime worked in IT. Following a family tragedy, he chose to return to Beaunay to join his parents. He pursued studies in viticulture and oenology before continuing his training at several estates, notably with Anselme Selosse in Avize.
When he joined the operation in 2012, the grapes were still being sold to merchants. The estate had no winemaking tools. Everything remained to be built. The vat house finally saw the light of day in 2015.
Since then, Maxime has been patiently researching the same idea: understanding what each parcel can express when given enough space.
This approach makes perfect sense in Beaunay.
Located about twenty kilometers from Epernay, the village remains one of the most singular territories of the Coteaux du Petit Morin. Clays are omnipresent, but their depth varies greatly from one parcel to another. Chalk can surface under a few tens of centimeters of soil or disappear several meters deeper. Marine fossils, Campanian limestones, and iron oxides compose a particularly contrasting geology, where each locality develops its own balance.
This diversity now underpins all the work of the estate. Vinifications remain deliberately discreet to allow differences in texture, tension, and relief to appear naturally in each cuvée.
Vintage after vintage, the wines gain in precision without ever losing their energy. They tell less about the style of a winemaker than a permanent dialogue between a place, a year, and an ever finer understanding of the terroirs of Beaunay. This is undoubtedly what makes Maxime Oudiette's work so fascinating to follow.
