Made from 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir, all from Verzy and Verzenay, both Grand Cru villages. The vines were planted between 1969 and 2006. The soil is chalky with outcrops of silt and gravel. This rosé is made with the addition of 19% still Pinot Noir from Verzenay vinified by the family. The reserve wine is a solera including very old wines and is added to the base wine from a single vintage. Annual production averages just over 10,000 bottles. The champagne spends 3 years en tirage before being disgorged. Dosage is 8 grams per liter (brut).
In 1968, the family moved to the village of Villers-Marmery. This village, in the eastern part of the Montagne de Reims, is the only village planted with a majority (98%) of Chardonnay in a sea of Pinot Noir. The chalk here is very close to the surface of the soil and has a huge influence on the wines—something that helps make it one of only four villages in the Montagne de Reims that is premier cru for Chardonnay but not for the region’s predominant grape Pinot Noir.
A Charles Neal Selection