List of products by manufacturer Champagne MOUZON-LEROUX

Domaine MOUZON-LEROUX - VignArtea

CHAMPAGNE    MONTAGNE DE REIMS    8 ha    CERTIFIED ORGANIC FARMING    WINEMAKER : Sébastien MOUZON-LEROUX


ESTATE HISTORY


The Champagne MOUZON-LEROUX is located in the heart of Verzy, on the exceptional Montagne de Reims vineyard where are produced very high quality wines. The landscapes open on the chalky plain, and the slopes where the vines extend are surmounted by woods, among which there is a curiosity: the Faux de Verzy or twisted beeches, so called because of their tortuous trunks and branches, and for which no rational explanation could be given as to their atypical morphology peculiar to the region.

It is in this place full of mystery and legends that Sébastien MOUZON-LEROUX, the worthy representative of the fourth generation, is running the vineyard that the estate has been running from father to son since 1776, using reasoned farming practices that have progressively led the domain to a biodynamic culture in 2008. It obtained the AB Ecocert certification in 2011 : the young vines are worked with the horse, grass production are carried out by sheep and chickens in winter, and the estate introduces shrubs into the vineyards to preserve their biodiversity.



TERROIR


Sébastien is in charge of 8 ha of vines : the vineyard, very fragmented, consists of 60 parcels distributed between the Verzenay and Villers Marmery villages. Soils, of light textured, carbonated, are mainly formed on chalk and on the chalk's alteration, with many slope-wash products. The grape variety consists of a majority of Pinot Noir (60%) planted on the plots located west of Verzy, on Verzenay and Mailly-Champagne villages side, where the soil has a very thick clays layer covering the chalk.

Chardonnay vines (35% of the grape variety) are located east of Verzy, on Villers Marmery and Trépail villages side, where the substrate is lighter and the chalk outcrops, ideal for this variety. The remaining 5% of the vines consist of Arbanne, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris vines.



WINEGROWING & WINEMAKING


In the cellar, Sébastien wants keep intervention to the minimum during the different winemaking steps, while ensuring the highest quality for his champagnes. For this, only the harvest, picked at optimum maturity and sorted by cluster, is treat with sulphite. The cuvée (juice obtained after the three first pressing) and the taille (juice obtained after the forth and fifth pressing) are used. The undecanted must is directly put in barrels after pressing.

All fermentations are made in with native microorganisms. The preparation of a native yeasts sourdough starter is systematic to ensure a dynamic alcoholic fermentation's start, because the latter is conditionning all the following winemaking steps. For that, a first grapes picking is carried out before the official harvest and put in fermentation for the production of 50 liters of leaven; a second grape picking is made two or three days later to prepare an additional 600 liters of yeast : at the end, 650 liters of bubbling yeast is available to seed the vats.

The musts make their malolactic fermentation, Sebastien does not want to inhibit it in order to avoid treating the champagnes with sulphites.

The wines are then aged on lees in oak barrels or in vats for 6 months, they are then bottled, without fining or filtering, for the second fermentation and is matured on slats from 24 months to 6 years depending on the champagne. After disgorging, sugar is added with rectified concentrated must to compensate for the liquid loss caused by the dead yeasts expulsion. The wines are aged for another 6 months in the cellar in order the liqueur de dosage to be integrated and the wine stabilized.

This estate is a beautiful discovery, champagnes are well-balanced and very delicate, attesting to a perfect control of the winemaking.


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