In short. The head of a champagne house is chosen first from what the shareholder wants to protect: a family's independence, a group's continuity, the opening of distant markets, or the cooperative model. The five successions made public in 2026 follow four paths: a peer from another house (Pol Roger), a promotion within a group (Ayala, Telmont), a leader trained in international markets inside a spirits group (Piper-Heidsieck, Charles Heidsieck, Rare Champagne), and a leader from the cooperative food industry (Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne). In the three cases where both dates are public, 15 to 53 days passed between the announcement and the start date.

On 23 September 2026, Champagne Pol Roger published a press release: its supervisory board, which met the day before, named Hadrien Mouflard chairman of the management board of Champagne Pol Roger & Cie. He succeeds Laurent d'Harcourt, more than twenty years with the house, thirteen of them as chairman of the management board. The release recalls what makes the house distinctive: its family independence.

Hadrien Mouflard had until then run Champagne Ayala, in Aÿ, part of the Bollinger group. Ayala had announced his successor on 23 July: Cédric Roblet, who joined the group in 2009 and became managing director on 14 September. One appointment opened another, and the second was filled from within.

These two cases are not isolated. Three other houses or groups have changed leaders since January: the champagne division of EPI (Piper-Heidsieck, Charles Heidsieck, Rare Champagne), where a leader from Rémy Cointreau took over as chairman on 10 March; the cooperative group Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne, which appointed a managing director on 3 March from another agricultural cooperative; and Telmont, where the executive director became managing director in July.

These five successions do not cover the whole market: they are the ones we could cross-check in press releases and the trade press. They raise a question for every family, group and fund that owns a house: where to look for the next leader, and what does that choice say about what the owner wants to protect?

The Numbers to Know

The intervals are our own calculation from published dates. They measure the gap between two announcements, not the length of a search: the decision almost always comes before the announcement.

Why This Matters Now

The first reason is the calendar. Four of the five appointments cluster in two windows: early March (3 March at Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne, 10 March at EPI) and September (the 14th at Ayala, the 22nd at Pol Roger). A shareholder preparing a handover in 2027 can already read four ways of doing it, dated and public.

The second is the context. The houses are running in a market where shipments reached 266 million bottles in 2025 and where the first half of 2026 remains measured, at 107.1 million bottles and +1.2% at the end of June. We have written elsewhere about what this cycle asks of a leader, between value, volume and cash. Here, the question comes earlier: who chooses this leader, and on what basis.

Two wrong readings circulate. The first holds that a champagne leader is found inside champagne. The five cases are more varied: a peer from another house, two promotions inside a group, two leaders from outside the appellation. The second holds that an appointment is a human resources matter. In each case, the public text names the body that appointed the leader or the one the leader reports to: Pol Roger's supervisory board, the chief executive of the Bollinger group, the chairman of EPI, the chairman of Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne, the chairman of Telmont.

Five Successions, Four Paths

This four-path grid is ours. It does not describe the intentions of the houses.

First Path: The Independent House That Looks for a Peer (Pol Roger)

Pol Roger's release is restrained: a supervisory board, a chairman of the management board, a predecessor thanked, a production site modernised and completed in 2024, one sentence on family independence. The choice falls on a leader who knows the appellation from the inside: Hadrien Mouflard had run another Champagne house since 2012.

This path has a logic. A family attached to its independence looks for someone who does not have to learn the trade, or the growers, or how to defend a house within a collective decision. It also has a cost, visible in the sequence: the trade press had reported the choice in early June, Ayala announced its own successor on 23 July, and the house formalised the appointment on 22 September.

Recruiting from a peer opens a succession at the peer. Discretion, timing and the quality of the relationship between the two shareholders are part of the mandate.

Second Path: Promotion Within a Group (Ayala, Telmont)

At Ayala, Cédric Roblet joined Bollinger in 2009, Ayala in 2016 as head of administration and finance, then became company secretary: finance, the French market, relations with grape suppliers. He took part in replanting the vineyard, structuring supply and investing in production. The chief executive of the Bollinger group, Gonzague Villedey, presented him as well placed to lead the house through its next phase of development.

At Telmont, Justin Meade, executive director for five years, becomes managing director. He reports to Ludovic du Plessis, the house's chairman, who was named in March 2026 to head Rémy Cointreau's new Prestige division (Louis XIII, Telmont, Maison Psyché) and joined the group's executive committee. The directory of the Union des Maisons de Champagne shows this two-headed structure, chairman and managing director.

This path answers a concern for continuity. It presupposes years of preparation: a leader who knows both the house and the group's rules is not designated on the day of departure. In both cases, the route runs through finance, supply or sales before general management.

Third Path: The Leader From Spirits and Distant Markets (EPI)

EPI, the investment holding company of the Descours family, has owned Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck since 2011, when it acquired them from Rémy Cointreau. In December 2025, Bertrand Steip, a former Moët Hennessy executive, was named interim chairman of both houses after the departure of Damien Lafaurie, who arrived in 2015 and became chief executive of the Reybier group. At the end of January 2026, EPI announced that Nicolas Beckers would chair the champagne division from 10 March, reporting to the group's chairman, Christofer Descours.

His background is that of a distribution and markets leader: strategy consulting from 1999, Carrefour from 2003 with posts in Hong Kong, Thailand and Russia, then Rémy Cointreau from 2011, first heading the China region, then, in 2022, Rémy Cointreau Americas (United States, Canada, Latin America).

This path answers a question of opening. A shareholder who names a leader trained in China and the Americas says where it sees the house's next step. In return, the leader must quickly learn the vineyard, the cellar and the rhythm of the appellation. The direct reporting line to the shareholder acts as a bridge.

Fourth Path: The Leader From the Cooperative Food Industry (Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne)

The group brings together Nicolas Feuillatte, Castelnau, Abelé 1757 and Henriot. In 2025 it posted EUR 229 million in revenue, up 1%, for 12.1 million bottles shipped. Its managing director since May 2017, Christophe Juarez, is retiring. His successor, Philippe Dessertenne, 56, had run the agricultural cooperative group Lorca since 2022, after more than twenty-five years in the food industry and services to farmers, notably at Avril and Unilever.

The group's chairman, Éric Potié, highlighted his deep knowledge of the cooperative model. The criterion is therefore neither the brand nor the appellation: it is an understanding of a shareholder base of growers, whose decisions are not made the way a family's or a group's are. This path is the furthest from champagne in the strict sense. It is a reminder that the head of a cooperative answers first to those who supply the grapes.

What These Choices Say About the Shareholder

This table is our reading, not a description of the intentions of the houses cited.

In all five cases, the appointment comes with a clear reporting line. That is what gives the successor legitimacy, far more than a CV.

What This Demands of Senior Roles

The last role changes most. A board that appoints a leader without having written what it expects leaves the successor to guess.

Special Case: The House Owned by a Group or a Holding Company

Three of the five cases involve houses that belong to a larger whole: the Bollinger group for Ayala, Rémy Cointreau for Telmont, the Descours family holding for the Heidsieck and Piper houses. Two questions arise there that are less visible in an independent family house.

The first is the leader's double reading: he or she reports on an ageing cycle of several years to a shareholder who may run on another calendar. The reporting line, to the chairman of EPI for Nicolas Beckers, to the chairman of Telmont for Justin Meade, is a governance choice, not an organisation chart detail.

The second is the leader's origin. Nicolas Beckers built his career at Rémy Cointreau from 2011, on China and then the Americas. A leader trained in distant markets is not necessarily a champagne leader, and that is sometimes what the shareholder is looking for. We deal with the international dimension of the role in a dedicated article.

Five Decisions to Make Before Launching the Search

1. Write down what you protect. Independence, continuity, opening, collective model: a single answer, written, shared by the board and the shareholder.

2. Choose the path. Peer from a neighbouring house, internal promotion, leader from another world of wine and spirits, leader from another sector: each demands different preparation.

3. Set the reporting line. To whom does the leader report, and how often: supervisory board, group, holding, cooperative.

4. Plan the interim. Bertrand Steip covered the Heidsieck and Piper houses from December 2025 to March 2026, about three months. What matters is that it has a scope and an end date.

5. Anticipate the chain effect. The calendar of departure and arrival is prepared with both shareholders when recruiting from a peer.

Common Mistakes

Looking for a profile before writing the mandate. A board that asks for "a managing director for a champagne house" without saying what it protects will receive applications unrelated to its need.

Believing that champagne alone qualifies a candidate. Knowing the appellation is an asset, not proof. The criterion is the ability to lead the phase the house is entering.

Underestimating the interim. A transition without a scope becomes a default mode of governance. It is decided, not endured.

Forgetting the growers. The houses ship more than two thirds of volumes, the growers farm 90% of the vineyard. A successor without a relationship of trust with those who supply the grapes starts with a handicap, whatever his or her career.

Announcing before aligning the shareholders. When a house recruits from a peer, the announcement triggers a succession there. It is prepared with the peer.

How to Assess a Leader Called to Run a Champagne House

1. Has he or she already led a house, a group or a cooperative whose shareholder remained present? Ask for specific disagreements and how they were settled. The answer reveals the ability to share authority without losing it.

2. How does he or she describe the relationship with those who supply the grapes? The answer should speak precisely of contracts, calendars and trust. Anyone who reduces growers to a purchasing line has not understood the house.

3. Which phase has he or she already led? Growth, reorganisation, handover, opening of markets: the candidate should describe a difficult decision in the target phase, and what it cost.

4. How will he or she work with the shareholder? A supervisory board, a group or a cooperative do not expect the same thing. The right answer says when the leader decides alone and when he or she reports.

5. What will he or she do in the first hundred days? A peer knows the neighbouring house, not this one. A leader from another world has to learn the trade. The candidate should say what will be learned first, and from whom.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the head of a champagne house chosen?

Through a shareholder decision before it is a search: the supervisory board at Pol Roger, the group at Ayala and Telmont, the holding at EPI, the cooperative's chairman at Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne. The path (peer, promotion, other world, other sector) follows from what the shareholder wants to protect.

Should a champagne leader be recruited from within champagne?

Not necessarily. Of the five 2026 successions, three come from the appellation or its group (Pol Roger, Ayala, Telmont), two from outside: a leader trained at Rémy Cointreau on China and the Americas, and a leader from the cooperative food industry. The sample is small and is not a market statistic.

How long between the announcement and the start date?

In the three cases where both dates are public, 15 to 53 days: 53 at Ayala, 40 for EPI's champagne division, 15 to 18 at Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne. These intervals measure the time between two announcements, not the length of the search, which comes before the announcement.

Who appoints the head of a family-owned champagne house?

It depends on the structure. At Pol Roger, a company with a management board and a supervisory board, the supervisory board named the chairman of the management board on 22 September 2026. In a group house, it is the group. At Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne, it was the chairman, Éric Potié, who presented the appointment.

Can a spirits executive run a champagne house?

The public facts of 2026 give one example: Nicolas Beckers, formerly head of Rémy Cointreau Americas, has chaired EPI's champagne division since March. It is not a rule, it is a path, one that assumes a direct reporting line to the shareholder and a fast apprenticeship of the appellation.

What is an executive search firm for when recruiting the head of a champagne house?

To approach, discreetly, leaders already in post, in neighbouring houses as well as in other worlds of wine, spirits or luxury, who do not answer advertisements. At Laroze Partners, Thomas Rozier, with more than ten years in executive search, acts as business partner to the board and the shareholder, as the house's ambassador to the leaders approached, with a guarantee covering the whole probation period of the leader placed.

Key Takeaways

• Five public successions in 2026, four paths: a peer, a group promotion, a leader trained internationally, a leader from the cooperative world.

• The choice of leader says what the shareholder protects: independence, continuity, opening, collective model.

• 15 to 53 days separate the announcement from the start date when both dates are public: the decision comes before the announcement.

• Recruiting from a peer opens a succession at the peer, as the Ayala, Pol Roger sequence illustrates.

• Before looking for a profile, write the mandate, the reporting line and the interim.

Laroze Partners' View

A succession at a champagne house is a shareholder decision before it is a search for a person. The five 2026 cases are readable because each says, through the choice it made, what its shareholder seeks to protect. A board that treats succession as a profile search discovers too late that the real work was elsewhere: writing what it protects, choosing the path, setting the reporting line.

We support families, groups and shareholders in wine, spirits and champagne, before the search to define the mandate, and after the start date. We make no judgement on the houses cited, which we do not know from the inside: we read what they have made public.

The Laroze Pattern®, our method for the strategic reading of trajectories, leadership behaviours and performance dynamics, helps tell apart, in a leader's career, what proves that he or she has already led the target phase from what merely lets one suppose it. The houses that handle a handover well are those that wrote their mandate before writing a list.

Sources

Champagne Pol Roger press release, 23 September 2026 · Union des Maisons de Champagne, directory · Just Drinks, 4 June 2026 · La Champagne de Sophie Claeys, 2 June 2026 · Drinks Retailing, 23 July 2026 · Vitisphere, 13 August, 13 July, 19 February and 16 February 2026 · La Champagne de Sophie Claeys, 23 September, 6 July, 13 March 2026 and 15 December 2025 · Rayon Boissons, February 2026 · Au cœur du CHR, February and October 2026 · La Marne Agricole, 5 February 2026 · Shanken News Daily, 29 January 2026 · FashionNetwork France, 31 May 2011 · Comité Champagne, 2025 shipment review, 22 July 2026 press release, key figures 2023 data. Sources checked on 14 October 2026.