Our History

A family,
a clan

Amaury membre du clan | Champagne Laurent Godard
Amaury
Laurent, fondateur du clan | Champagne Laurent Godard
Laurent
Axelle membre du clan | Champagne Laurent Godard
Axelle
L'emblème du Clan | Champagne Laurent Godard

The Godard clan

There is no link that is stronger or more unbreakable than that of family. The link between family members is so powerful that it can be the source of both the greatest and the hardest of life’s journeys.

Our family is no exception to this rule. Like an invisible thread woven between generations, the love that unites us allows us to state loud and clear, from this moment forward, the fact that we belong, and that we have unfailing support among our members.

Nowadays, we are more than a family,
we are a clan.

The birth
of a clan

Our clan originated at the end of the 19th century, in the heart of Vallée de la Marne. Our great-grandparents, Georges Godard and Palmyre Anest, were the clan’s first representatives.

In 1920, they bought their first plot of vines. 12,000 square metres of land, which was christened Les Poulailles.

In 1922 they got married, and they had two children: Jacqueline (1925) and Maurice (1923).

Les premiers membres du clan - Champagne Laurent Godard | Vignerons dans la Vallée de la Marne
Jacqueline et Maurice - Champagne Laurent Godard | Vigneron indépendant dans la Vallée de la Marne
Jacqueline and Maurice
Photo d'époque avec les amis d'enfance de Maurice | Champagne Laurent Godard
Maurice surrounded by his friends

The best
of days

In 1946, Georges died tragically. The family, having lost one of their own, would never fully recover. Maurice took over the business to help his mother.

Maurice Godard dans une parcelle de vigne | Champagne Laurent Godard
Maurice during the 1984 harvest

My land,
my vineyard

From the 1950s onwards, Maurice and his wife Madeleine took a gamble on specialising in grapevines. At the end of the 1970s, the Godard clan could proudly claim two and a half hectares in the village.

Taking a stand
together

In the 1950s, solidarity was gaining more and more momentum. The weight of the great Maisons de Champagne was increasingly being felt, forcing winegrowers to lower their price per kilo for grapes.

Surrounded by about ten winemakers, Maurice and his friends took the decision to create the first cooperative in the village; a symbol of their commitment and their labour. It took seven years for the first harvest to finally be pressed, in and for Verneuil.

It was not until 1968 that my family created its own brand: Champagne Maurice Godard.

Les cuves de la coopérative de Verneuil dans la Vallée de la Marne
Vat room of the Verneuil cooperative.
Laurent et son père Maurice à table | Champagne Laurent Godard
Maurice and Laurent Godard around the table

The return

I, Laurent, always knew that I would take over my parents’ business one day. Ever since I was small, they had helped me discover their world, and this land.

Sitting on my mother’s bicycle, which took me there each day, I followed the evolution of the vine in accordance with the seasons, and the size of the harvests.

Portrait de Laurent, chef du Clan Godard | Champagne Laurent Godard
The head of the clan, Laurent Godard

When I returned from the civil service, my father offered me a small area of land to plant my first vines. atiently, I planted 20,000 square meters per year, until I had more than a hectare.

My love for wine growing grew each year. In 1984, a law allowed the youngest winegrower to buy vines on the estate. I acquired 36,000 square metres, which I managed and planted at the end of the 1980s

Between my purchases, gifts from my parents and rentals, I found myself running a 5-hectare farm by the end of the 1990s.

Verneuil
our land

Learn more