Gaspard Brochet farms at Villers-aux-Nœuds, on the southern flank of the Montagne de Reims, where his family has grown vines since 1932. He belongs to the generation of growers who have changed how Champagne is read: less a brand exercise than a set of parcels, each with something specific to say.

The work in the vineyard is deliberately restrained — low intervention, biodiversity encouraged rather than managed away, and each site farmed on its own terms. In the cellar the same discipline applies: slow fermentations, very little sulphur, careful élevage and long ageing on lees. The wines that result have tension and a clear sense of place rather than house polish.

Assemblage 333d takes its name from its construction: one third Pinot Noir, one third Meunier, one third Chardonnay, drawn from the family’s best parcels. It is a deliberate exercise in balance — the structure of Pinot Noir, the roundness of Meunier and the crystalline line of Chardonnay held in equal measure, with no dosage to blur the edges.

Produced in very small quantities and increasingly hard to find, it is among the cuvées that have made the domaine’s reputation.