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Tasting note
There are Champagnes one drinks, and Champagnes one studies. Vincent Laval’s Les Chênes belongs to the latter category: a Chardonnay from Cumières that reveals the saline backbone of its chalk so unadorned that the bubbles almost become incidental.
- Colour & appearance
- Intense golden yellow, threaded with a broad, extremely fine mousse.
- Nose
- Dense and multi-layered: sea breeze, lemon, oyster shells and a hint of smoke. Beneath these mingle subtle notes of Amontillado and roasted almonds – a depth rarely found in this category.
- Palate
- With no dosage whatsoever, it appears taut, incisive and refreshing to its very core. Pure salinity makes the mouth water, overlaid by remarkable power. Citrus fruit and mineral sharpness lend the wine drive and definition – umami in liquid form.
- Finish
- Long, salty and citrussy, with an aftertaste that positively evokes the sea.
- Terroir & origin
- The Les Chênes plot lies in the east of Cumières, mid-slope on a pure south-facing exposure. Beneath a thin layer of clay-silt soil rests chalk – Premier Cru ground that endows the Chardonnay with its tension and mineral coolness. The Laval family has lived in this village on the right bank of the Marne since 1694 and today cultivates just 2.5 hectares.
- Grape variety & vinification
- Pure Chardonnay, pressed in the smallest press in Champagne – a traditional Coquard vertical press with a 2,000-kilogram capacity. The must ferments with wild yeasts in used wooden casks and is bottled after around ten months without fining or filtration. Bottled as Brut Nature, entirely without dosage.
- Food recommendations
- Anything from the sea: oysters, sole, ceviche, gamberi or simply sardines on toasted bread. Also a revelation with Comté or aged Parmigiano.
- Special features
- Georges Laval converted the estate to organic farming as early as 1971 – at a time when barely ten growers in Champagne worked in this way. From just 2.5 hectares, around 8,000 to 10,000 bottles are produced each year, with single vineyards such as this even rarer. A Champagne for purists: terroir-driven, unadorned, with sulphur levels generally below 20 milligrams per litre.
