France · Champagne

David Leclapart

David Leclapart is a grower-Champagne producer based in Trépail, a premier cru village on the Montagne de Reims, farming approximately 3 hectares of Chardonnay (and a small Pinot Noir plot) under strict biodynamic principles. Leclapart produces zero-dosage, vintage-dated Champagnes from individual parcel selections — a radical departure from the non-vintage blending that defines most grandes maisons. His three principal cuvées are L'Amateur (entry-level), L'Artiste (the most requested), and L'Apôtre (Grand Cru from Ambonnay Pinot Noir). L'Astre Blanc de Noirs Pas Dosé, a further Pinot Noir-based bottling, rounds out the portfolio. At auction, the producer averages $256 per bottle across 166 lots — among the highest prices for any grower Champagne not named Selosse or Egly-Ouriet. Production is extraordinarily small: total annual output across all cuvées is under 10,000 bottles, generating the scarcity that sustains triple-digit auction prices. Leclapart's wines earn consistent 92–96 points from Champagne specialist writers and have been featured in multiple best-of Champagne round-ups as examples of the new wave of biodynamic, zero-dosage grower Champagne. Trépail is unusual on the Montagne de Reims for being predominantly Chardonnay territory — most of the mountain grows Pinot Noir. This means Leclapart's Chardonnay-based cuvées come from chalk and flint soils at relatively high altitude, producing wines with exceptional tension and mineral precision.