A dialog with wine lovers

What made Jérôme decide to join the family adventure?

« Away from the Champagne region I realised just how much of a difference there was between the world of my work and the world in which I grew up. I remembered all the time the intensity in camaradery sitting round a big table, at home, on the other side of the world, with family, with friends or complete strangers. This is something that I have only ever really experienced in the world of wine and gastronomy! I struggle to imagine ever doing anything else. »

Jérôme joined his brothers when he was 24 years old.

« Selling the wines and representing the House requires a great deal of sharing of our knowledge and experience. Not only in order to explain the House’s wines but in order to promote champagne in general, the various ways in which it can be enjoyed and how to gain as much as possible from the tasting experience. We do not open a bottle of champagne for the same occasions in every country. The appraoch to gastronomy isn’t the same from one country to the next either and we’re not looking to impose a set way of doing things we accept that champagne can also be enriched by being consumed differently. »

Jérôme has inherited his client relation skills from his mother. The Legras-Haas family remains committed to the spirit of the wine, the wellbeing and dedication of its teams and its trademark high quality service. It also prides itself on its reactivity and accessibility which it considers to be the key to its success.

« What is done nowadays from behind a computer is what my mother has done all of her life using nothing but her heart. This was the catalyst for the House’s success and it is essential that we preserve this personal approach whilst also demonstrating our consistency and our desire to create the best wines possible with the raw materials the vine gives us. If we always continue on this same path then we will continue to stir up emotion in those who taste our wines. »

And the first champagne-related emotion?

« When we were young we would sometimes sneak into the cellars with our friends and pinch a bottle of champagne. One evening we knew that what we were drinking was something very special, something that went above and beyond any other wine we had tasted in terms of its complexity. Our curiosity soon replaced our fear of getting caught when we asked what we had taken. It was a Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Chouilly from 1990. This wine has kindled my passion for champagne. I immediatly understood the difference between drinking and tasting, the difference between wine and alcohol. »