Anselme Selosse’s ancestors have been growing grapes in Avize for centuries, but it was not until 1959 that his father, Jacques, became the first in the family to produce and sell his own Champagne. That first vintage yielded just 2,500 bottles because Jacques Selosse hedged his bets by continuing to sell virtually all of his grapes. After obtaining a BTS degree in viticulture and enology at Beaune, Anselme Selosse took over from his father, who was by then producing 12,000 bottles per year but was still selling the majority of the crop as grapes to Lanson.

Anselme continued to make Champagne like his father, but confesses, “I did not consume my wines. Then in 1976, my third year of winemaking, I was confronted with a great drought. I said to myself that the grapes were so ripe, I must produce less foam — just a half-mousse. So I put in less sugar, and by doing this I realized I had changed my approach. I discovered freedom.” Since that epiphany, Anselme Selosse has been revered as a Champagne visionary by some and deemed as mad as a hatter by others. He is definitely eccentric, undeniably charismatic and overtly opinionated.