On one of his wine tours in the Champagne region, sommelier Gunther De Grom came into contact with a family wine grower in Côte des Bar. He likes to come there because of the diverse landscape, the picturesque villages and the delicious Champagne. In this region, the blue grapes come into their own better, with the result that the Champagnes here are somewhat fruitier and more powerful.

For the creation of his own brand, he went back to his youth. In high school he was nicknamed Grompie, which in Dutch is actually a diminutive of his surname. But Grompie was also a playful reference to Grumpy, the most grumbling of the 7 dwarves. Not that he was a big whiner then, but the word “gromard” in the French language means Grumbler. And with that the circle was complete and the brand name Champagne de Gromard was created.

Even though his family name is written with two capital letters, in Belgium the more noble version is written with a small ‘d’. The legend says that his great-great-grandfather would be a descendant of a former Belgian king and one of his mistresses.