Champagne Duval Leroy - A Spectacular Visit

 

Michel Brismontier, Duval-Leroy's director of international sales,  has been a friend to us at Northampton Wines for many years. He has visited us in Greenville several times, and even hosted a Champagne Dinner in the Wine Café. He welcomed us in grand style when we arrived in Vertus, the little town in the Cotes des Blancs that is home to this magnificent producer of Champagne.

Chardonnay Arrives at Duval-Leroy

Richard Snatches a Grape (or two)

As this year's harvest is quite late, grapes arrived at the winery just as we did.  The plastic containers receive the hand-picked fruit and store it uncrushed on its way to the winery. These bins are turned-out into an ingenious press that has a bladder that sits uninflated at the bottom of a large cylinder (laying on its side). When the proper volume of grapes has accumulated, the press rotates until the bladder is at the top.  It is then inflated gradually to lightly crush the grapes, allowing the "free run" juice to escape through many slots at (what is now) the bottom.  This initial handling of the fruit goes on at a furious pace in order to get it all harvested in good condition. This is work that will not wait.

As you can see, our squad of journalists was quick to catch me sampling the fruit.  It must be said that everyone tried a bit, not just me.  The chardonnay that we sampled was remarkably small-berried and very sweet.  The connection between this rich fruit and the ultimate crisp product seems a bit remote.  Then again, the grapes do have a very long road ahead of them before that can be said to be Champagne. White (Chardonnay) and red (Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) grapes are handled in the same manner (except in the case of roses). The appearance of juice is in each case similar to that of unfiltered apple juice.  The various grape types and the various vineyard sources are managed and fermented separately. Almost all of the initial fermentation is done in stainless steel tanks. The resulting dry wines are used to makes blends for

each of the company's great cuvees. Of course this is still just the beginning. The various cuvees are bottled with a bit of added yeast and sugar and sent to ferment again and age in the cellar. As you can see we went to visit them there. To think of the millions (literally millions) of bottles, first slowly fermenting, and then aging for years in the cellar makes one feel fortunate that the Champagne producer has the patience and the capital to perpetuate this process.

We followed the path of the wine through the winery to the places where it is manipulated to remove the sediment and then cleared and recorked and labeled. We emerged from the cellar to attend to the duties of tasting various Champagne products of the house.  And, further, we demonstrated what exceptional accompaniment these wines are for food. Or, is it that the food is a great accompaniment to Champagne?  In any case, we proved that Champagne isn't just for breakfast anymore. In all we tasted eight distinctive products, all of them excellent, and we vowed to serve them frequently, with or without meals. Carole Duval-Leroy paid us the special honor of visiting our group as lunch was ending, bring along her son and her chief enologist. They most graciously took time to welcome us and answer questions about the wines of the house.                                  After lunch, we made a meaningful pilgrimage to a
 special "Monopole" vineyard of the house, Clos des Bouveries".  This great site is the source of one of Duval-Leroy's unique products, a Premier Cru Champagne of 100% Chardonnay grapes of a single vintage, from the singular slopes of this one vineyard. Vintage dated Champagnes represent a small portion of total production throughout the region. Ones that come from a single vineyard site are very rare.




The hospitality (and refreshment) we received at Duval-Leroy will long be fondly remembered. Fortunately when we need to relive a bit of this experience we can open a splendid bottle of Duval-Leroy Champagne. Each one brings us a bit of the vital spirit of Champagne.

CLICK HERE to see Duval-Leroy products in stock at Northampton Wines

 

The Town of Vertus from the Vineyard "Les Bouveries"