Champagne AR Lenoble Partner with Jordan Winery

The finest restaurants in the world welcome guests with a glass of Champagne and California’s Jordan Vineyard & Winery is embracing this tradition for all of its culinary events with the Jordan Cuvée by Champagne AR Lenoble. Debuting this month at Jordan’s ‘Sunken Treasure’ Halloween fête, this special bottling of AR Lenoble non-vintage brut celebrates the shared business values and common winemaking philosophies of both families. The Jordan Cuvée by AR Lenoble will be served at Jordan’s dinner parties, exclusive events and Jordan Estate Rewards private meals beginning this fall and will be available for purchase direct from the winery in spring 2017.

Inspired by the elegant wines and gracious hospitality of France, Jordan has a history with sparkling wine dating back to 1986. That year, winery founder Tom Jordan and his daughter, Judy, returned from a Christmas vacation in Hawaii and created the J by Jordan sparkling wine as a 50/50 partnership. Until 1993, J sparkling was produced at Jordan Winery in Alexander Valley, a relationship that exposed Jordan winemaker Rob Davis to Chardonnay’s much greater Burgundian likeness when grown in the Russian River Valley appellation. After moving J by Jordan sparkling to a permanent facility in Russian River Valley, Judy took over full ownership and grew J Vineyards & Winery into a successful producer of not only sparkling but also still wines. Jordan and J operated independently for almost two decades, but Jordan continued to serve J sparkling at winery receptions and winemaker dinners until a few years ago. Judy sold J Vineyards & Winery in 2015.

“Sparkling wine is a family tradition we just couldn’t let go of,” said John Jordan, second-generation vintner and proprietor of Jordan Vineyard & Winery, who took the reins from his father in 2005. “Since the debut of Jordan’s inaugural 1976 vintage, Jordan has served fine red Bordeaux and white Burgundy during dinners and tastings for trade and press guests hosted at the winery. The best sparkling wines in the world come from Champagne. It makes more sense for us to collaborate with a French partner who shares our values rather than to get back into the Sonoma sparkling wine business.”

One of the very rare producers in Champagne that has been consistently family owned throughout its entire history, AR Lenoble was established in 1920 by Armand-Raphael Graser, who had moved from Alsace to the village of Damery in Champagne during World War I. Today, AR Lenoble is owned and operated by siblings Anne and Antoine Malassagne, the great grandchildren of Graser. The fourth-generation vintners took the reins from their father in the mid-1990s: Anne in 1993 at 28 years old, and her younger brother Antoine three years later in 1996. The family owns 18 hectares in some of the best parts of Champagne, including 10 hectares in the grand cru village of Chouilly on the Côte des Blancs and six hectares in the premier cru village of Bisseuil between Mareuil-sur-Ay and Tours-sur-Marne.