Grapes: Pinot Noir + Chardonnay
Region: Verzy, Champagne, France
Vintage: 55% 2019, 45% 2017 + 2018
Viticulture: Organic + Biodynamic
Soils: Limestone
Vinification: Direct press
Aging: 80% french oak + 20% stainless steel. Aged sur latte for 36 months
Fining or Filtering: Disgorged
Sulfur: Minimal added
Notes from the Importer: This family can trace their grape growing in Champagne to 1776. The Mouzon Leroux domaine is located in the Grand Cru village of Verzy in the Montaigne de Reims. As Grand Cru villages go, Verzy was quite recently upgraded to its elevated status. In 1985 five villages were promoted to Grand Cru: Verzy, Chouilly, Oiry, Oger, and Mesnil-sur-Oger. Sébastien Mouzon, is a young man with a clear sense of vision for his domaine and his end Champagne. Sébastien received formal training and degrees in both oenology and viticulture, and spent a year working in Burgundy to gain greater depth of knowledge towards the use of oak for fermentation and maturation.
Having worked for others he returned to the family estate in 2002, and with his parents blessing and help went about transforming the farming and winemaking process. The Mouzon family owns 18.5 acres across 50 different plots, which they farm organically and biodynamically including the use of a horse and plow . In the vineyards flowers and grass are allowed to grow between the vines, and Sébastien has gone so far as to plant a cherry tree in the middle of one of his vineyard plots to promote biodiversity.
This bottle is named after his nod to his philosophy of atavism, a return to the former way of making Champagne. The grapes are harvested at a ripeness level where chaptalization (sugar addition) is not necessary. The initial fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts and is then aged for six months in enamel lined tanks and 25% oak barrels to give greater depth and complexity. All wines are produced as ‘naturally’ as possible.
