CHAMPAGNE TROIS CONTRÉES (Domaine La Borderie)

DESCRIPTION

The cuvée TROIS CONTRÉES is made from:

• 3 varieties: Pinot Blanc - Pinot Noir - Chardonnay
  
  
• 3 villages: Merrey Sur Arce - Villé sur Arce - Bar sur Seine
  
  
• 3 plots et 3 exposures:
  • Val Moré : in Bar sur Seine - Western exposure - planted in 1954
  • Les Devoix : in Merrey Sur Arce - south-west exposure - planted in 1973
  • Les Clos Bidaut: in Villé sur Arce - Estern exposure - planted in 1986.

Pinot Noir remains the majority grape in the blend.

TERROIR

The vines are planted on a terroir whose soil was formed between -152 and -142 million years ago, during the Jurassic period and essentially during the Middle and Upper Kimmeridgian as well as during Lower Portlandian.
The early Kimmeridgian is marked by a littoral facies that soon gives way, in the Upper and Middle Kimmeridgian, to a pelagic facies with marl-limestone sedimentation in a vast Ammonite sea whose transgression was favored by a vertical and negative tectonic movement, i.e. causing a collapse of the earth's crust.

A very slow positive tectonic movement (uplift of the earth's crust) will then generate a decrease in marine depths during the Portlandian whose lower deposits still contain Ammonites while the upper deposits are composed of oolitic limestones that formed in the presence of a warm, shallow, rough sea.

The vines that make up this cuvée are planted on marl-limestone soil from the Middle and Upper Kimmeridgian, composed of three layers of grey marl separated by two layers of marly to hard limestone. Its total thickness is around 80 meters.

WINEGROWING & WINEMAKING

The estate has adopted a policy of respect for biodiversity, abandoning the use of all herbicides, insecticides and acaricides since 2012. Grass cover is encouraged while remaining under control, and the planting of hedges and trees within the plots helps vine auxiliaries to settle in, enabling intelligent pest control. This is the principle of the Agroforestry.

The Haute Valeur Environnementale et Viticulture Durable en Champagne certifications are indisputable witnesses to their commitment.

The vines are therefore cultivated according to the Organic Farming principles, and synthetic products are only used in the event of a serious threat to the harvest. Once harvested, the grapes are quickly transported to the winery for immediate pressing. Each plot is vinified separately.

The blend is made of :

• 70% Pinot Noir
• 20% Chardonnay
• 10% Pinot Blanc

It includes 15% reserve wines, and only the cuvée must (juice from the first three presses only) is used.

90% of the juice is fermenting in stainless steel vats and 10% into oak barrels. The malolactic fermentation is completed except for the must made in oak barrels where the latter is stopped.

Racking takes place in July, after a 6-month ageing phase on the lees. The liqueur de tirage (sugar with yeasts) is added for the second fermentation in bottles that are placed on slats for 16 months.

After disgorging, sugar is added in the champagne at 3g/l.

• Blend: 2021 (85%) - vin de réserve (15%)
• Racking date: 07/07/2022
• Disgorgement date: 11/09/2023
• Slats ageing: 16 months
  
• Sugar addition: 3 g/l