NV 49 Million Grande Cuvee Reserve Champagne 750 ml

Maybe it’s the plots in Cramant, Bouzy, Oger, and other villages across Champagne. Maybe it’s the seventh-generation winemaker at the helm. Or maybe it’s the storied history. But something at Champagne Jeeper has big names knocking. 

In 2013, Second Growth Cos d’Estournel owner Michel Reybier invested. In 2022, NBA Hall of Famer Tony Parker joined him. And when French importer Ilham Zrida approached owner and winemaker Nicolas Dubois about partnering on her 49 Million label, they turned out a beautiful Champagne. 

The duo sourced Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Montagne of Reims, and aged the wine sur lie in traditional vats for over four years—far surpassing Champagne’s 15-month requirement. That long lees contact is coveted for the layered complexity it adds to Champagne. Here, it delivers white peach, marzipan, lemon preserves, and saffron aromas, leading to a palate that balances fruit, spice, and nuttiness on a piercing line of acidity. 

The label is an homage to the traditional methode Champenoise, the cellar regimen that accounts for Champagne’s uplifting bubbles. In fact, the name comes from engineer Bill Lembeck’s estimation that each bottle of Champagne contains around 49 million of them.

At Jeeper, they’ve harnessed these techniques since their start in 1949. At the end of WWII, founder Armand Gourtobe was an intelligence agent who helped US forces, so they gifted him a Jeep to traverse his vineyards—giving him the perfect name for his winery. Dubois purchased Jeeper in 2009 and has since focused on sustainable winegrowing, earning a HQE-HVE Sustainable Viticulture certification in 2016. 

With 49 Million, Dubois and Zrida deliver the combination of richness, effervescence, lush fruit, and spiced-nutty notes that we love to find in Champagne.