Family-owned Mareuil-sur-Ay house founded 1818, celebrated for its delicate brut rose and a long, cold fermentation that yields a fresh, precise style.
Tasting: Estate visits by appointment at Mareuil-sur-Ay; family house known for cold, slow fermentation.
Signature wines: billecart-salmon-brut-rose, billecart-salmon-cuvee-nicolas-francois
Tip: Its salmon-pink Brut Rose is one of the most acclaimed roses in Champagne.
Family-controlled house at Tours-sur-Marne founded 1812, known for a fresh, Chardonnay-influenced style and a pioneering saignee Cuvee Rose.
Tasting: Visits by appointment; family group house at Tours-sur-Marne.
Signature wines: laurent-perrier-la-cuvee, laurent-perrier-cuvee-rose
Tip: Its Cuvee Rose is made by skin maceration (saignee), unusual among the big houses.
Mareuil-sur-Ay house founded 1910, owner since 1935 of Clos des Goisses, the steep south-facing walled vineyard behind one of Champagne's great single-clos wines.
Tasting: Visits by appointment; house known for its walled single vineyard Clos des Goisses.
Signature wines: philipponnat-clos-des-goisses, philipponnat-royale-reserve-brut
Tip: Clos des Goisses is among the steepest and warmest sites in Champagne, so it is rarely chaptalised.
Dizy grower bottling estate Champagne since the 1930s, with the rare Blanc de Blancs d'Ay from Chardonnay grown in the Pinot stronghold of Ay.
Tasting: Grower estate; visits by appointment in Dizy.
Signature wines: gaston-chiquet-tradition-1er-cru, gaston-chiquet-blanc-de-blancs-day
Tip: Its Blanc de Blancs d'Ay is a rare Chardonnay grown in a village famed for Pinot Noir.