Pointillart Leroy
I've tasted 3 champagnes from Pointillart Leroy — enough to form a solid impression. The house is based in the Premier Cru, Montagne de Reims, works with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and shows a clear signature across their range.
Pointillart Leroy is a family winery in Ecueil, a Premier Cru village on the Montagne de Reims. Ecueil sits on the northern edge of the Montagne, where the slopes face northeast and the vines grow a bit cooler than in the more southern Grand Cru villages like Bouzy or Ambonnay. This produces champagne with more tension and less opulence — a terroir that doesn't immediately pull out all the stops, but unfolds slowly.
What impresses me about Pointillart Leroy: They work with all three champagne grape varieties and manage to give each cuvée a distinctive character. That sounds obvious, but it's not. Many small growers who cultivate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier end up producing champagnes that only differ by their labels. Pointillart Leroy is different — each bottle tells a different story.
The name Fondations 1910 reveals how long the family has been practicing viticulture here. Over a hundred years of experience in Ecueil — that's not marketing, that's history you can taste in the glass. Being rooted in a single village gives the champagnes an authenticity that larger houses with their purchased grapes can't achieve.
Terroir and Location
Pointillart Leroy's champagnes come from the Premier Cru, Montagne de Reims. The Montagne de Reims is known for powerful Pinot Noir and structured champagnes. Premier Cru sites give the champagnes additional depth and complexity.
Ecueil's Premier Cru classification is 90%, which represents a very good rating in the old Echelle des Crus. The soils consist of a mix of chalk and clay, giving the champagnes both minerality and body. The cool northeast exposure ensures slow ripening of the grapes and preserves natural acidity — a crucial factor for champagnes with aging potential.
The Range
Pointillart Leroy offers 3 different cuvées that I was able to try. In the lineup: Rosé, Brut Nature. A focused range that puts quality over quantity.
The Cuvées in Detail
Fondations 1910
A classic Montagne champagne with honest, focused character. Clean fruit, pronounced structure and lots of depth – artisanal and rooted. Highlights: structure-driven, classic, profound, Premier Cru Écueil.
Fondations 1910 is the calling card of the house for me. The name references the founding, and the champagne itself is equally rooted: no gimmicks, no frills, just Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Ecueil, honestly vinified. The structure is pronounced and reminds you that the Montagne de Reims is primarily Pinot Noir country.
Type: Brut | Grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Mit dem Fondations 1910 ehrt die Familie @champagne.pointillart.leroy ihre über 100-jährige Geschichte in Écueil. Und genau so schmeckt er auch:…
Trois Sœurs Brut Rosé
A fruity but not sweet rosé with character and structure. Warm, vibrant and powerful – so focused that you'd barely recognize it as a rosé blind. Highlights: fruity, structured, powerful, focused.
Trois Soeurs — three sisters — is named after the family's three daughters. And the champagne actually has something familial about it: warm, lively, with its own personality. That you'd barely recognize it as a rosé blind is a compliment: The structure and power outweigh the typical rosé fruitiness. Here Pinot Meunier takes center stage and gives the wine a spicy, almost rustic note.
My tip: This rosé isn't a summer wine — it works just as well in fall with game dishes or hearty cuisine.
Type: Rosé | Grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier
Gestern – vermutlich einer der letzten warmen Sommertage. Die Nachmittagssonne stand schon tief – aber sie hatte noch so viel Kraft, dass wir…
Descendance Brut
Surprisingly angular and spicy with herbal, almost vermouth-like notes. Dry on the attack, piquant with pressure on the palate – a serious character that feels like an Extra Brut despite 7 g/l dosage. Highlights: vermouth notes, spicy-herbal, structured, linear.
Descendance is the champagne in the range that polarizes. The herbal, almost vermouth-like notes are unusual and not for everyone. But that's exactly what makes it interesting: Here you taste the terroir of Ecueil in its rawest form. The low perceived dosage despite 7 g/l shows how much structure and acidity the base wine brings.
Type: Brut Nature | Grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier
Corps & Esprit
I hadn't planned it at all – but actually no new post has gone online since August 5th.
Drinking champagne?
Blanc de Blancs · Chardonnay
My Tastings
Mit dem Fondations 1910 ehrt die Familie @champagne.pointillart.leroy ihre über 100-jährige Geschichte in Écueil. Und genau so schmeckt er auch:…
Gestern – vermutlich einer der letzten warmen Sommertage. Die Nachmittagssonne stand schon tief – aber sie hatte noch so viel Kraft, dass wir…
Ich hatte das gar nicht geplant – aber tatsächlich ist seit dem 5. August kein neuer Post mehr online gegangen. Champagner getrunken? Ja. Fotos…
Gestern der Descendance - Brut, heute der Descendance - Extra Brut von @champagne.pointillart.leroy – und ich muss sagen: Die 2 g/l Dosage machen…
Nachdem es gestern mit der ersten Flasche von @champagne.pointillart.leroy losging, haben wir direkt die nächste geöffnet: Descendance – Brut…
Great stories are never written alone. Mit diesem Leitsatz präsentiert sich das Champagnerhaus @champagne.pointillart.leroy – und genau so fühlt…
Conclusion
Pointillart Leroy is for me the archetype of a grower champagne house: familial, terroir-driven, unvarnished. No champagne from here will ever win a beauty contest, but each one honestly tells where it comes from. Anyone wanting to discover the Montagne de Reims beyond the great Grand Cru villages will find a perfect starting point in Ecueil at Pointillart Leroy.
| Region | Premier Cru, Montagne de Reims |
| Grape varieties | Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier |
| Styles | Rosé, Brut Nature |
| Champagnes tasted | 14 |