This seems to be the age for overcoming stereotypes and long-cherished assumptions. The Aube, the southernmost region of Champagne, was long thought to be essentially a grape factory for the big houses in the north. No longer. Now, some of the most exciting of all Champagnes come from the Aube.

Beaujolais and Muscadet don’t age? We now know better. Fino and manzanilla sherries must be consumed immediately after opening? Not the good stuff. Why shouldn’t we consider pinot meunier Champagnes?

When I asked Mr. Prévost by e-mail why pinot meunier had been relegated to secondary status in Champagne, he insisted at first that he was not a pinot meunier specialist, even though his two wines, La Closerie and a rosé, are made solely of pinot meunier. Rather, he said, it was simply the appropriate grape for the land that he happens to own.

“I did not choose the land that I cultivate,” he said.

Nonetheless, he went on to say that any bias against pinot meunier could be traced back to the early 19th century, when legend has it that “a certain Mr. Moët,” the influential progenitor of the giant house of Moët & Chandon, did not want pinot meunier among his vines, a stance that left a lasting impression among his peers. It should be noted that Moët has not retained a stance against pinot meunier, and in fact around 10 years ago made an experimental Champagne from a single-vineyard plot of pinot meunier, which, sadly, it has not repeated.

Mr. Prévost suggested that endlessly repeated conventional wisdom prolongs the notion that pinot meunier is a less-than-noble grape, calling it a lazy sort of blanket statement that is contradicted by the efforts of dedicated vignerons. As for his own aims, Mr. Prévost cited Faulkner, saying, “One may live in a small place, but the important thing is the depth to which one digs.”

He did note that Krug, one of the most prestigious of all Champagnes, has long championed the role of pinot meunier in its own blended wines. Indeed, Rémi Krug, the former head of the house, once described pinot meunier to me as “the unacknowledged grape.”