An evening with Adrien Dhondt from Dhondt-Grellet
Monday, March 16, 2026 at 7pm
l’abeille is honored to host Adrien Dhondt of Dhondt-Grellet Champagne for an exclusive evening celebrating one of the Côte des Blancs’ most compelling grower estates. Representing a new generation of precision-driven vignerons, Adrien crafts terroir-transparent Champagnes from meticulously farmed Grand and Premier Cru Chardonnay sites in Cramant, Chouilly, Oger, and surrounding villages.
Dhondt-Grellet’s philosophy centers on purity, low-intervention cellar work, and extended lees aging to reveal tension, chalk-laden minerality, and remarkable depth. Produced in limited quantities and sought after by collectors worldwide, these wines embody both intellectual rigor and emotional resonance — Champagnes of energy, finesse, and quiet power.
For one evening only, guests will experience a curated tasting led by Adrien himself, paired with l’abeille’s refined French-Japanese cuisine — a dialogue between Champagne’s crystalline precision and Chef Mitsunobu Nagae’s seasonally driven artistry.
An intimate encounter with one of Champagne’s rising stars — rare bottles, direct from the source, and a celebration of terroir at its most expressive.
The Evolution of Dhondt-Grellet
Dhondt-Grellet is based in the Côte des Blancs, the stretch of Champagne renowned for its chalk-rich soils and Chardonnay-dominant vineyards. The estate emerged from the union of two grower families — the Dhondts in Oger and the Grellets in Cramant — whose vineyards span Grand and Premier Cru villages including Cramant, Chouilly, Oger, and Cuis. For generations, the family cultivated and sold fruit to larger Champagne houses, developing a detailed understanding of their individual parcels before bottling under their own name.
The domaine began producing estate-bottled Champagnes in the late 20th century, marking its transition from grape grower to récoltant-manipulant. This shift allowed the family to focus on expressing specific vineyard sites rather than contributing to broader house blends.
A significant evolution occurred when Adrien Dhondt assumed leadership. Representing the new generation, he refined both viticultural and cellar practices with an emphasis on precision and transparency. Vineyard work became increasingly attentive to soil health and balanced ripening, while in the cellar he favored restrained intervention, extended lees aging, careful oak integration, and moderate dosage to preserve tension and mineral clarity.
Under his direction, the range expanded to include more terroir-driven cuvées and parcel-specific bottlings, highlighting the structural differences between villages such as Cramant’s finesse and Oger’s depth. Production remains limited, maintaining the estate’s grower scale and focus.
Today, Dhondt-Grellet is regarded as a thoughtful, site-focused producer within the Côte des Blancs, known for Champagnes that emphasize structure, chalk-driven minerality, and measured, precise expression of Chardonnay.
Wines for the Evening
ROC Solare Extra Brut NV - Now that Adrien has pulled up the vines & stopped making Premier Temps he has debuted a new cuvée - Roc Solare from 100% Coteaux du Sézannais fruit. He want to show something different outside Cotes de Blancs in his range. His grandfather had bought has pulled up the vines & stopped making Premier Temps he is debuting a few plots of vines in the new cuvée - Roc Solare from 100% Coteaux du Sézannais in the 1960s and 1970s fruit. With this first vintage, his goal is to reveal the identities of the Sézannais hillsides, a direct extension of the Cotes de Blancs but with a distinct geo-pedological nature (very interesting terroir of silex & clay.) Chardonnay makes up the majority of the blend (90%), supplemented by 10% Pinot Noir from soils that are rich with flint pebbles mixed with clay. This site matures earlier, especially because the two plots are south facing. These are old vines that give denser, more textured fruit than you find on the Cramant side.
Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru “Les Terres Fines” Extra Brut NV - “Les Terres Fines” is 100% Chardonnay from a number of small parcels scattered around the village of Cuis and Chouilly, including the addition of a new parcel in Cuis acquired in 2022 - “Les Fetes” planted on pure chalk. It is vinified in oak and is 70% of the base vintage with the remainder a perpetual reserve started in 1986. Dosage is under 1g/l. It’s his most fine-boned cuvée. Snap shot of the northern Cote de Blancs.
Blanc de Blancs, Mesnil-Sur-Oger Grand Cru “Plantes d’Oger”, Extra Brut 2020 - In 2018, Adrien started his own small negoc project under his name to satisfy his curiosity outside of his own domaine’s style. For his first iteration (released Spring 2023) he bought grapes from woman who owns 3 ha in Oger, Avize & Le Mesnil - the 3 villages in the Cotes de Blancs where his domaine does not have vines. His aim is to experiment by looking at a single vintage and show how each plot within a single village expresses its terroir under the same vinification. He did the exact same vinification for all 3 wines over 4 years - 2018-2021 (sites will vary from year to year).
Blanc de Noirs, Grand Cru “Les Côtes au Vent”, Extra Brut 2021 - Early Spring 2026 arrival Blanc de Noirs – 100% Pinot Meunier, Vieilles Vignes – Cuis 1er Cru – 2021 Vintage Les Côtes au Vent is a new cuvée made from our namesake parcel located in Cuis, on one of the northernmost slopes of the Côte des Blancs with a southeastern exposition. Planted in 1954, the vineyard is composed of massale selections of Pinot Meunier, a rare and distinctive grape variety in a sector traditionally dominated by Chardonnay. Terroir: The soils are very thin, light, silty–chalky, bringing tension, finesse and clarity to the wine. Previously, this parcel contributed about 20% to the blend of Dans un Premier Temps (RIP).
Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru “Le Bateau” Cramant V.V., Extra Brut 2020 - Le Bateau is considered one of the best lieu-dits of Cramant and Adrien's vines planted there are the oldest of the estate. The vineyard was planted in 1951 by Adrien's great-grandfather and follows the contours of the slope, some 70% southern exposure, the rest to the north. Previous vintages have always carried the designation “Grande Cuvée” after a wine that Adrien's father made exclusively from Le Bateau. Unfortunately, he only made it for one vintage (2000) because the quantity was so small. (In 2010, Adrien decided to start bottling a single vineyard again.)
Blanc de Blancs, 1er Cru “Les Nogers”, Extra Brut 2014 & 2020 - Les Nogers is an evolution from the cuvée Vielles Vignes Selectionnées, which Adrien made for the last time in 2011. Starting with the 2012, Adrien started to bottle the wine under the name of the lieu dit - Les Nogers. Adrien’s parcel in Les Nogers is of old vines, now over 50 years old. It is a particularly interesting lieu dit because it is a continuation on the same hill as Le Bateau (Cramant) but in the village of Cuis. His parcel begins with sandy-clay, becoming chalkier as you ascend the slope. Cuvée Evolution: Millisieme → VVS → Les Nogers