In 1874, a widow running a Reims wine house did something no one else in Champagne had done: she released a wine with almost no sugar in it.
At the time, that was close to heresy. Champagne was a sweet wine — some houses were pouring in as much as 300 grams of residual sugar per litre, closer to a dessert wine than anything drunk today. Louise Pommery bet that drier was better.
She was right. The wine she released, Pommery Nature, became the first commercially successful Brut Champagne — and "Brut" has been the default style of Champagne ever since.
Quick facts: Champagne Pommery
- Founded: 1836 (as a négociant business) / 1858 (renamed Pommery & Greno)
- Founder: Alexandre Louis Pommery and Narcisse Greno; later led by Louise Pommery
- Location: Reims, Champagne, France
- Known for: Creating the first Brut Champagne, Pommery Nature, in 1874
- Current name: Maison Pommery & Associés (renamed from Vranken-Pommery Monopole, effective 1 January 2026)
- Signature NV wine: Brut Royal — Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier
Origins in Reims
Before it was a Champagne house, it was an unremarkable Reims négociant business, trading in wool as much as wine. It began under the name Dubois-Gosset in 1836 — the date the house itself now points to, marking 2026 as its 190th anniversary. For two decades it changed hands and names, the way small trading firms did.
Then, in 1858, a wool merchant named Alexandre Louis Pommery joined the business, and it was renamed Pommery & Greno. He wasn't a winemaker. He wouldn't live long enough to become one, either — his involvement in the Champagne trade was brief, and he died not long after joining, leaving the business to his widow, Jeanne Alexandrine Louise Pommery, known as Louise.
Louise Pommery Takes Over
She had no background in wine. She had two young children to raise, and a husband barely in the ground.
She took control of the company within days.
It wasn't a sentimental decision — it was a structural one. She moved the business out of wool trading entirely, focused it on Champagne production, and set about acquiring some of the best vineyard sites in the region. The dosage decision that became Pommery Nature came a few years later, once the house — and her palate — were established.
Domaine Pommery and the Chalk Cellars
Louise Pommery matched her ambitions in the cellar with equally audacious ones above ground. Domaine Pommery, an Elizabethan-style estate in Reims, went up between 1868 and 1874 — the same years she was perfecting Pommery Nature — standing over more than 18 kilometres of underground chalk cellars carved from Gallo-Roman quarries. The cellars, along with the wider Champagne hillsides, houses, and cellars, are UNESCO World Heritage listed today. Louise Pommery ran the house until her death in 1890.
Pommery Today
The house Louise Pommery built has changed hands and names more than once since 1890, but the wine in the bottle still follows her rule. The Pommery brand is now part of a French group formerly known as Vranken-Pommery Monopole, which changed its trading name to Maison Pommery & Associés effective 1 January 2026 — a move the company tied to the Pommery name's history and to 2026's overlapping anniversaries across its estates.
The house's current range spans everyday non-vintage Champagnes through to prestige cuvées, but the entry point for most drinkers remains Pommery Brut Royal NV — a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier showing fresh citrus, green apple, and white flowers on the nose, with a fine mousse and a clean, mineral finish. It's built on the same dry, low-dosage principle Louise Pommery established 150 years ago.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who invented Brut Champagne? Louise Pommery, of Champagne house Pommery, is widely credited with creating the first commercially successful Brut Champagne, Pommery Nature, in 1874.
When was Champagne Pommery founded? Champagne Pommery traces back to a Reims négociant business from 1836. The house took the Pommery name in 1858, when Alexandre Louis Pommery joined the business.
What grapes are in Pommery Brut Royal NV? Pommery Brut Royal NV is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier.
Is Vranken-Pommery Monopole the same company as Pommery? Yes. Vranken-Pommery Monopole changed its trading name to Maison Pommery & Associés effective 1 January 2026; Pommery remains one of its Champagne brands.
Shop Pommery Brut Royal NV
We stock Pommery Brut Royal NV in two formats:
Same Champagne in both. The difference is the box.