Review: Wines of Champagne Jeeper, 2025 Releases
Jeeper, in its current incarnation, is a fairly new Champagne house, and their products are just starting to become available across the U.S. According to the website, the brand’s unusual name does indeed come from the vehicle, a tribute by the original owner of the Champagne house to the Willys Jeep he acquired from the American military after WWII. The current owners began making Champagne Jeeper in 2010, releasing their first bottles in 2014, but they have made a significant investment in the brand’s future and can currently boast of having the third largest cellar (in terms of barrels stored) in the Champagne region. Today we sample three of their offerings.
NV Champagne Jeeper Grand Assemblage Brut – 60% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Noir, 15% Pinot Meunier; aged 4 years on the lees. This dry Champagne includes some chardonnay that was aged in oak barrels. The time in barrel and extended aging in the bottle shows in the nose which is expressive with rich butter and brioche along with strawberry. The palate also shows strawberry and includes both Fuji and Granny Smith apples offering fruity sweetness and tanginess along with lemon citrus and toast notes. All very nice, but the flavors don’t come together quite as nicely as they could. The steady stream of small bubbles provides a silky mouthfeel and the wine shows high acidity, but the finish is a bit short. B+ / $65
NV Champagne Jeeper XXI Blanc de Blancs Brut – 100% Chardonnay that spent 6 years on the lees. This Champagne comes in a reflective, silver-colored bottle that makes for a bold showpiece, but I found it a bit gaudy. The Champagne pours golden straw in color and has effusive mousse. Having spent extensive time on the lees, the Champagne presents a lovely, bold aroma of yeast along with some grass and fruity apple and lemon. The palate presents granny smith apple as well as notes of apple pie and lemon tart. The Champagne has high acidity and the notes come together well. This is a crowd-pleaser that will appeal to almost everyone, but it didn’t really wow me. B+ / $90
NV Champagne Jeeper Grand Reserve Blanc de Blancs – 100% Chardonnay that spent 5 years on the lees. With ample small bubbles, this Champagne has a lovely nose of lemon merengue, toast, and red delicious apples. The same notes appear again on the palate, where they are even more pronounced, but they are in harmony, coming together to give the Champagne a big, rounded character that I really enjoyed. The mousse is fine, providing good mouthfeel, and the acidity is medium-high, allowing the Champagne to pair well with food but also to be enjoyed on its own. I was quite taken by this one. A- / $70
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