The Inescabable New Rendez-vous Of Anne Malassagne: ‘Éxperience Champagne’

A Unique & Exclusive Invitation to Experience Champagne in a Different Way!

For three decades running the family-owned Champagne House AR Lenoble, Anne Malassagne succeeded in carving out a name for herself, ultimately transforming a small family house on the verge of collapse into a renown and venerated Champagne brand around the world.

Last year, in a bold and surprising move, she handed over the reins of the Champagne house and let go of her CEO seat. Yet if Malassagne is no longer at the helm of AR Lenoble Champagne, she has not completely bid Champagne adieux. Au contraire!

Today, Malassagne has commenced an exciting new chapter in her life.

She is not only opening the doors to her cozy and comfy residences, but she is also opening the window to her mind and soul sharing the fountain of knowledge, intuition and savoir-faire she gained during her 30 year-tenure as the mastermind behind AR Lenoble.

Turning her homes in Paris and the Île de Ré into her new stomping grounds, she proudly unveiled her brand-new professional initiative, “Éxperience Champagne”.
An inescapable rendez-vous for Champagne enthusiasts to participate in a unique, novel and exclusive Champagne tasting journey.

At the center of her trade is a reimagined Champagne adventure that transforms the art of wine tasting from an intimidating, at times pretentious, science into an informal, entertaining and enlightening intimate moment. Malassagne’s craftily elaborated personal method draws from her own lenses, sensibilities, instinct, expertise and know-how.

A one of kind opportunity to live an unforgettable exceptional moment within the intimate confines of Malassagne’s private nest and immerse yourself in an unparallel bespoke Champagne experience curated with unmatched precision.

Exactly like nothing else!

“Éxperience Champagne” is a uniquely profound exploration and formidable discovery of the senses and the story behind each bottle and every bubble. Malassagne offers her guests the opportunity to hone their ability to unearth the many subtle nuances in the wine and, in an out-of-the-box fashion, become Champagne experts in their own rights.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to reconnect with Anne Malassagne to learn more about her move into a sparkly new life chapter and dive into her passion-fueled brand-new Champagne universe.

Congratulations on your new project, “Expérience Champagne”. What inspired this new professional adventure?

After spending 30 years at the helm of our family-owned Champagne house AR Lenoble I felt the need to share my experience being a woman in Champagne and to pass on my personal and unique method when it comes to tasting. Indeed, it was something close to my heart to introduce Champagne differently, to have people experience all of its subtilities and beauty.

The Frère-Gallienne family became the majority owner of Champagne AR Lenoble in 2023.

Why did your brother and you decide to part ways with this family-run Champagne house, which had just celebrated its centennial in 2020? Are you still involved in any way?

When I took over the domain in 1993, I very rapidly wrote my roadmap with the objective of creating the Champagne of my dreams, full-bodied and straightforward at the same time.

Concretely speaking, I had in mind to shape our wines in a way to gives them a balanced aromatic power via a precise finish. It took me 30 years to accomplish this work. In 2020, once the mission was accomplished and the centennial anniversary of the house was timidly celebrated due to the pandemic, the question “what’s next” and that of the transmission of the AR Lenoble Champagnes posed itself.

In family affairs as well as in the Monarchy, the tradition is that the son succeeds his father. If such is the rule of thumb, is the head of the company forced to adhere to such conventional norm when the descendants have no desire to do so, nor the competence to follow the footsteps of their ancestors? Is it necessary to keep ownership of the Champagne house with the family at the risk of seeing it collapse? Shouldn’t the transmission transcend blood ties to preserve the continuity and permanence of what past generations have built?

It is within this frame of mind that I considered it to be my responsibility to pass on the AR Lenoble estate to another family, the Frère-Galllienne family, with whom I share strong values.

I keep, from a distance, contact with the new team vesting in them my full trust to successfully carry out new projects that will complement AR Lenoble Champagnes’ authenticity and value.

For those not familiar, what is ‘Expérience Champagne’?

‘Expérience Champagne’ has the ambition to introduce and have people discover Champagne differently. Let me explain: Champagne remains a wine associated with joyful life events whether personal or professional. In these situations, the focus of attention is primarily centered around the ‘occasion’ itself and less on the Champagne often considered an element of the décor (on wedding or baptism photos) or a message carrier (notably during the apéritif, a business meal or a couple’s date).

The Champagne experience I am proposing anchors around the awakening of all its senses. During this tasting, in full awareness and multisensory, the perception of the Champagne is heightened, and the immersion is total. The anchoring is the indispensable preamble of this experience. Concretely speaking, once all cell phones are in ‘plane’ mode, a breathing moment of a few minutes will allow everyone to reach a state of full attention and presence which will let them fully enjoy the tasting. Once Champagne is served, I invite everyone to solicit their ears, eyes, nose and sense of touch; to listen and observe the bubbles; to move their face towards the glass to feel the droplets; and to smell the aromas with the explosion of the bubbles.

It is only after this time of discovery, unusual for many, that the wine is tasted and savored.

This approach which mobilizes all the senses allows one to appreciate the full range of aromas.

Champagne is then at the center of attention and reveals all its subtleties much to the surprise of those who never thought to be able to have the faculty to perceive so many things during a Champagne tasting.

What specific approach do you have that makes your tastings personal and unique?

Everyone will have a personal perception of Champagne, and I encourage participants to communicate by formulating words about their experience. These are simple words, far from the unknown technical and esoteric terms which usually intimidate and frustrate people. I guide them while sharing the tasting language which I have developed and has helped me during my 30-year tenure with AR Lenoble to memorize the wines to better take care of them. We talk about colors, forms, textures, and so many words which by way of analogies allow people to own their sensations and conserve their memory of it.

These methods are very accessible, reassuring and fun, and is used in all four of the Ateliers I am offering.

How has your AR Lenoble experience shaped your understanding of Champagne?

When I succeeded my father, I had no oenological training. What could have been a weakness ended up being a powerful strength. The absence of academic knowledge revealed itself to be a formidable asset allowing me to explore all the available avenues in a very avant-garde fashion. It is within this frame of mind that I developed my tasting method, very empirical, using the power of full consciousness and the richness of our senses.

Free of all theoretical constraints, I allowed myself all the liberties taking me on original and exciting paths. It is all this baggage and experience that now share in my new activity.

You offer workshops, dinners and master classes, on what have you based the design and concept of each category?

The tasting method is based on a multisensorial approach and being in a state of full awareness is applied in every tasting session. The workshop gathers 2 to 10 people for a very intimate and personal encounter. Depending on participants’ interest, the topic will zoom in on the influence of the glassware, cheese pairings, extra aged Champagnes or rare ones.

Dinners demand people to be available for an evening. This ‘longer’ time allows for an even more immersive experience paired with an innovative gourmet menu prepared and served by a chef. A musical experience will enrich the evening, illustrating how music influences tasting.

For Business companies that wish to encourage and/or reward their teams or build customer loyalty and thank clients, I offer master classes custom-designed based on budget and expectations.

For each workshop and dinner, you offer a very precise and unique selection of Champagnes. How did you design your menus? What did you base your selection on? Do you work with a distributor?

Remaining an active member of ‘La Transmission, Femmes en Champagne’ which I co-founded in 2016 with Maggie Henriquez, it seemed logical to select my Champagnes among the group.

Illustrating the full diversity of the Champagne region, I find all the treasures and gems that Champagne has to offer. In each experience, Cuvées of a wide variety are presented, some more traditional, others rarer. These tastings are an authentic ride along the roads of Champagne, from the Aube to the Montagne de Reims, passing through the Côte des Blancs and the Marne Valley. I personally pick the Champagnes in close collaboration with each woman of La Transmission to offer the most adequate Cuvées for each proposed experience.

For your dinners, you collaborate with some Chefs to pair Champagne, food and music. Who are these Chefs?

My choice of Chef is the fruit of serendipitous encounters. In Ré, it is with Yann Boutit that I collaborate. Passionate about food and cuisine, Yann decided shortly before Covid hit to give up marketing and take on accelerated training at the Ducasse school. Armed with his diploma, he left Paris for La Rochelle where he shares his passion with individuals as a private chef.

In Paris, I collaborate with Annika Sherwen. Born to a Swedish mom and a British father, she grew up in Belgium. Annika developed her knowledge and technic through personal experimentation and through successive trainings. Like Yann, she works in an artisanal way for a full mastery of her culinary creations and her outstanding capacity to adapt to her guests’ expectations. I feel a close connection to the experimental and atypical careers of these two personalities. This allows us to explore together original pairings, sometimes surprising but always precise and in perfect harmony with the Champagnes that are being tasted.

One last point that is extremely important, these two chefs privilege the simplicity and conviviality of the dishes by strictly working with local products in season.

Speaking about music, what is your playlist and what is your selection based on?

The music pauses are orchestrated around my playlist which I play throughout the soirée, punctuating the different moments of the tasting and keeping with the typicity of the Champagnes being tasted. In my playlist you will find:

‘Experience – Solo Piano – Ludovico Einaudi’ which encourages the necessary anchoring for tasting. The music invites you to sit down and bring all your attention to the tasting.

The ‘6 Gnossienned V N’5’ from Erik Satie are an alternative to accompany this time of pause which is essential to my method.

To illustrate the effervescence of the wine and the enthusiasm of the bubbles in the glass, I love to listen to ‘Celio Concerto in E Minor, RV 409 II Allegro’ from Vivaldi.

To observe the magic of the bubbles, more calmly with a vintage Champagne I select ‘Concerto Bassoon in E Minor RV484:1 Allegro Poco’ by Vivaldi or the ‘Adagietto’ by Arash Safaian, Sebastian Knauer.

When I start the tasting of Champagne made from a blend – very friendly – I choose the music from the film ‘L’Étudiante et Monsieur Henri: ouverture’ by Laurent Aknin or the ‘Prélude en ré mineur’ of Jean Sébastien Bach.

For Champagnes that are more mature, I will favor the power and slowness of the musical piece ‘Plus Tôt (string quartet version)’ of Alexandra Streliski; or the ‘Suite in G major RCT 6, N’14’ by JP Rameau.

For these musical pauses, I can also sometimes, a few days before, ask each of my guests to select a piece of music they most associate with Champagne. Throughout the evening, I play these selections for everyone. It’s an interesting experience which allows everyone the opportunity to explain his/her choice, thus putting words (without knowing it) on the emotions the Champagne is eliciting.

One of the workshops that is very original and uncommon revolves around the influence of glassware. What role does a glass play in the tasting of Champagne? Do you have a favorite glass?

In the preamble to this experience on the influence of a glass, I remind people that the bottle that they are about to taste is the fruit of one year’s work in the vines, of several months of attention to complete vinification, and years of patience in the cellars to allow all the aromas to express themselves. After all this time, today is its day. So, let’s offer that Champagne all our attention and give it the best tasting conditions.

For this experience, I select a classic Champagne that will not taint this exercise with its originality and strong typicity. This Champagne is served in 5 different glasses – different in shape and form.

• The coupe ‘Paris’ by Lehmann
• The Flute ‘Reims’ by Lehmann
• The glass N’4 from the Collection Arnaud Lallement by Lehmann
• The glass Synergie 60 from the Collection Philippe Jamesse by Lehmann
• The glass Passion by Baccarat

While the ideal glass for Champagne does not exist, it nevertheless does affect the tasting.

The shape of the glass will strongly modify the trajectory of the bubble, and, when travelling, it will also alter the way aromas are revealed. A crystal glass being thicker will play on the wine temperature and on the intensity of its expression.

This experience allows all participants to discover how much one’s perception of Champagne varies depending on the glass and how much Champagne abounds in subtleties and aromas.

Preceding this exercise, everyone chooses the glass that procured the most emotions in order to taste 3 other Champagnes of more contrasted characters: a Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, a Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs and a vintage.

Personally, I prefer a glass with a large body and a tightened rim. Depending on the season and the Champagne that is being tasted, my choice will go to a thin and airy glass, or, conversely, a heavier glass for a more intense feel.

Do you still actively participate in the association ‘La Transmission, Femmes en Champagne’?

Just like Maggie Henriquez who left Krug, I am now an honorary member of La Transmission. Having co-founded this association, I remain very attached to it and dedicate now a good portion of my time in entertaining it. If I don’t present any Champagnes during the special events we host, like Maggie, I have become a privileged spokesperson to speak about the association, its mission and its modus operandi. In 2024, during ‘Le Printemps des Champagnes’ in April, we greeted the Ambassador of the United States, and are now preparing a stunning soirée on Champagne Pairings set to take place in Paris on October 15.

You offer these unique experiences in Paris and Île de Ré, in the intimacy of your home. Why these venues as opposed to a place in Champagne? What does this touch of intimacy bring to you?

This touch of intimacy allows for a more authentic and freer exchange. Beyond the tasting, it is an encounter that I offer participants. It is in this sense that this service radically differs from those offered in Champagne, all for commercial purposes. , I have nothing to sell but everything to share and to pass on. It is thus in a very natural fashion that I invite people to come live this privileged and unprecedented moment at home.

Is there a question you wish I had asked you and didn’t?

Yes, the question: Why participate in my Champagne Experience?

To treat yourself or offer someone an instructive and fun moment of pause, exchange and sharing.
To discover Champagne in a different way.
To surprise yourself by being able to perceive its aromatic richness.
To gain confidence and more tasting pleasure.
To have fun and to dare try.
To, beyond the tasting, live a real experience!

Images belong to Anne Malassagne & Champagne House AR Lenoble. Glass of Bubbly was granted permission to use them.