Interview with Evelyne Roques-Boizel
Tasted, 2009

According to you what are Champagne's most distinctive characteristics in terms of "terroir", production, and commercialisation?
Our "terroir" is unique in the fact that the grapes grown here are expressing a unique finesse as well as character, extreme delicacy and at the same time personality, aging potential, and an ability to be blended while expressing a unique sense of purity. The blending of up to 60 different "vins clairs" (still wines) resulting from the three grape varieties, from many different villages (and also from different vintages for the NV) is a very special moment. It is important to give free reins to one's intuition, one's love for wine, guided by the search for balance.

What's your favourite Champagne anecdote?
Sir Franck Hedges Butler, great traveller, founder of the British Royal Automobile Club and chairman of Hedges & Butler Wine merchants, founded in 1667, sole importer of Boizel from 1887 on: During a trip to West Africa, he reports in his diary September 1911: "A perfect gentleman's night: a platform in the tree, some blankets, a fine supper, Boizel 1990, good company, I shot a zebra."

According to you which is the most difficult part in the production of a Champagne?
The blending, to achieve the best expression, the finest balance, the consistency of the quality over the years...

If you were to chose a "Champagne Ambassador" who would it be and why him or her?
It would be...a true Champenois because the love of the terroir and the region is important...somebody proud of our ancestors who have built our appellation. Somebody who is enjoying life and Champagne and who likes to share his/her emotion and passion...

What is your personal favourite style of Champagne (brut, ultra brut, doux,...) and what do you like to serve it with?
Difficult question as, like a mother with her children, I don't have a favourite cuvée: it depends of the company, the mood, the weather, the location... It is mostly Brut, but it can be Rosé NV with a picnic, as well as Joyau de France 1996 with "poulet aux morilles."