Veuve Lanaud is based in Avize on the Côte des Blancs, in the middle of a terroir classified as grand cru. The house was founded in 1919 by Henry-Léopold Tabourin. He chose the name as a tribute to his widowed mother, Marie-Joséphine Lanaud. The Gauthier family later took over the buildings and cellars. According to the house, they have been responsible for production since 1987, today with their sons Edouard and Jonathan. The house describes itself as a fourth-generation grower family. The brand's emblem is still the eagle.
The Gauthiers farm 12 hectares of vines across 17 villages. The family does all the vineyard work themselves. They have farmed organically since 2022, and the first certified organic cuvées come from the 2022 vintage. These include the Cuvée Édouard Gauthier and the Cuvée du Cinquantenaire Rosé.
The range runs from the Carte Blanche Brut through the Cuvée de Réserve to vintage and prestige cuvées. The Carte Blanche is 66 per cent Chardonnay, with 17 per cent each of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The Cuvée du Cinquantenaire comes as a blanc de blancs and as a rosé. The Carte Noire line is made as a vintage brut nature, for example 2012 or 2013. To mark the 100th anniversary, a grand cru blanc de blancs was produced, limited to 700 bottles. There is also a ratafia, made traditionally by fortifying unfermented must with marc and fine champagne. According to the house, its premises on the Place Léon Bourgeois welcome several hundred visitors every year.
