A small house with a production of 300,000 bottles from Pierry in a scenic premier cru village in the western part of the Côte des Blancs. At this fair, you would expect to see big conglomerates and producers that: a) produce enough wine to export to the hungry Asian market; and b) are ready to set up or expand their presence in the Far East. So I was surprised to see Mandois there. I hadn’t heard of this house before, but I learned a few things from them regarding the brut nature champagne style: few people make a vintage wine in this style; it’s usually non-vintage. Also, the house of Mandois started making a brut nature in response to requests from restaurants (several other producers told me the same later). This made me wish to see more brut nature for pairings at restaurants in New York. I’ve been advocating this style for years now, and at this show, almost all of the champagne producers that I visited now have a brut nature in their line-up. And, I know we will see more to come.