the terroir – CHAMPAGNE RODEZ

Respect of the terroir: the soil

The quality of a terroir resides in the magical chemistry of its soil, the sun, the wind and the men that have worked here for generations.

For centuries, champagne winegrowers have been able to find, clear and plant the plots of land most conductive for vine growing. Long before the effervescence, the terroir was recognized and the wine already flowed well beyond the boundaries of Old France.

Through the magic of the bubbles and the work of men, Champagne wines gained in lightness, in finesse, to finally show their spirit, the spirit of the men. In modern times with the development of technology, changing elements and the compression of time, men can be at risk of forgetting this.

Respect of the terroir: the vine.

Respect of the terroir: the vine. We should not forget that the terroir is not immutable, that our common Champagne heritage is a fragile heritage and that our wines to evoke the dream need to be made of beautiful and great grapes. In this context we try, without philanthropy, to make Champagnes where the terroir transpires by encouraging the variation of pleasures and where bubbles are agitated and flutter while bathing in Wine.

We work every day to abandon certain practices, certain reflections of a sometimes mindless viticulture. The respect of soils translates in a desire to favour the life which reigns here by banning all root herbicides, by prohibiting all fertilizers which could distort the natural minerality… and thus the expression of the terroir.

The footprint of the terroir

Since Dom Perignon’s work on the effervescence, numerous generations have worked toward making the Champagne region the cradle of this wine imbued of magic called Champagne. The long learning process of domestication of the second fermentation process became more and more precise, at the risk of becoming too technical, too excessive at the risk of stripping the wine of its soul. Often characterized by the aftermath of a fragrance, we start to imagine, to dream…

But beyond the dream there is the reality of our daily life which guides our work as a winegrower. If many of our Champagnes are the fruit of the marriage of the diversity of our base wines after the chemistry of bottle aging,where we try to transpire an olfactory and gustatory melody in the continuity of the previous vintages, the style of our cuvee “Empreinte de Terroir” is very different. This cuvee is a Champagne wine which wants to be the expression of the work of a man on his terroir.

Long before the wine, for the grapes to show us the terroir where they are grown, we have to watch them, to ensure that we do not fall into the traps of a viticulture which is too intensive. Respect the soil, so that from its very depths its substance rises, its strengths, smells, history, … respect the vine so that in the playful waltz of the seasons it only feeds off the strict necessary so its flower will burst forth into a harvest carved out from its origins. The role of the winemaker is limited to try and do everything possible to respect and preserve the integrity of the level of expression of the vintage. Winemaking in small oak barrels, no malolactic fermentation, no cold stabilizing, no filtering but a lot of passion…

Champagne rodez the terroir

Respect of the terroir: the soil

Respect of the terroir: the vine.

The footprint of the terroir

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