Lanson

Editorial profile

Lanson is a historic Reims Champagne house founded in 1760. Its current cellar master is Hervé Dantan, who took the role in 2013 and has overseen the evolution of the house's core Black Label into the numbered Le Black Création series.

Freshness remains the central technical idea. Lanson continues to use a predominantly non-malolactic approach rather than claiming that every component wine avoids malolactic fermentation. That distinction is important: the current Le Réserve Extra Brut, for example, is documented as containing 75% wines made without malolactic fermentation, while the current Vintage 2014 is entirely non-malolactic.

Why this producer matters

Lanson combines large-house scale with several unusually specific winemaking markers. The house currently says its vineyard supply covers about 400 hectares, including 60 hectares of its own, with access to roughly one hundred crus. Reserve wines, extended cellar ageing and restricted malolactic fermentation are then used to preserve continuity and freshness across that broad sourcing base.

The portfolio also reaches beyond the standard multi-cru house blend. Le Clos Lanson provides a site-specific wine from a walled vineyard in Reims, Le Green Bio-Organic comes exclusively from the organically and biodynamically farmed Domaine de la Malmaison, and Noble Champagne forms the prestige tier.

Vineyard and sourcing identity

Lanson's current savoir-faire page describes a supply base of about 400 hectares, including 60 hectares owned by the house and 16 hectares under organic and biodynamic viticulture. The grapes come from around one hundred crus, approximately half of them Grand Cru or Premier Cru.

That breadth makes Lanson a blending house first, but not exclusively. The Malmaison estate, acquired in 2010 and now certified organic and biodynamic, supplies Le Green Bio-Organic, while Le Clos Lanson isolates a single historic vineyard in Reims.

Winemaking and cellar approach

The defining house practice is the selective preservation of malic acidity. Lanson's current Black Création page describes a historically predominantly non-malolactic style, now combined with a smaller proportion of wines that have undergone malolactic fermentation where Hervé Dantan judges it useful.

Reserve wine and time in cellar are equally important. Each Black Création spends four years in the house cellars. The current Le Réserve Extra Brut contains at least 40% reserve wines and is aged for at least five years, while Le Vintage 2014 has spent at least ten years in cellar. Exact reserve proportions, malolactic percentages, dosage and ageing remain release-specific.

Current and meaningful cuvées

Le Black Création

The principal house Champagne and the clearest introduction to modern Lanson. Each numbered Création represents a new blend in the sequence, so the Création number is part of the wine's release identity. Current house material specifies four years of cellar ageing and a predominantly non-malolactic approach.

Le Rosé Création

The core rosé, reinterpreted under the Création identity in 2024. Exact blend and technical data should remain attached to the current Création.

Le Blanc de Blancs

A Chardonnay-focused wine using crus from the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims. It provides the clearest white-grape contrast with the Pinot-Noir-led structure of several other Lanson wines.

Le Réserve Extra Brut

The current release is 50% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 15% Meunier, from a selection of 80 crus, with at least 40% reserve wines, at least five years' ageing, 5 g/L dosage and 75% non-malolactic wines. Those figures belong to the current documented release.

Le Green Bio-Organic

Made exclusively from grapes from the Domaine de la Malmaison, the house's organically and biodynamically farmed estate. Its certified origin should not be generalised to the full Lanson sourcing base.

Le White Label Sec

A deliberately higher-dosage Sec expression that occupies a distinct position from the Brut and Extra-Brut wines.

Le Vintage 2014

The current vintage wine on the official catalogue. It is 54% Pinot Noir and 46% Chardonnay from Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards, aged for at least ten years, with 7 g/L dosage and no malolactic fermentation. All of those details belong to the 2014 release.

Le Clos Lanson

A site-specific wine from the house's walled vineyard in Reims. Exact vintage and technical details should be preserved with the current bottle.

Noble Champagne and Noble Champagne de Blancs

The prestige tier. Current house material presents a new Noble Champagne vintage alongside Noble Champagne de Blancs; both should be catalogued by exact vintage rather than as timeless generic prestige wines.

Champagne.co analysis

Lanson is best understood through the interaction of breadth and tension. A very large sourcing palette gives Hervé Dantan flexibility in blending, while reserve wine, long cellar ageing and selective restriction of malolactic fermentation maintain the freshness that the house considers central to its identity.

The modern range then narrows that broad model in different ways. Le Réserve Extra Brut sharpens dosage and reserve-wine emphasis, Le Green ties one wine to a certified estate, Le Clos Lanson isolates a single Reims site, and Noble Champagne moves into the prestige-vintage tier. These are distinct expressions rather than simply more expensive versions of Black Création.

Buying guidance

Start with Le Black Création for the clearest current house signature, keeping the Création number attached to the bottle. Choose Le Réserve Extra Brut for lower dosage and longer ageing, or Le Blanc de Blancs when Chardonnay is the priority.

Look to Le Green Bio-Organic for the Malmaison estate, Le Clos Lanson for site specificity and Noble Champagne for the prestige tier. For Le Vintage 2014 and every numbered or vintage release, retain the exact technical data rather than transferring it to later editions.