Remi Leroy Les Quatre Cepages 2014 75cl

Tasting Note

A great blend of the three noble grapes along with a small addition of Pinot Blanc. The Pinot Noir sits forward on the nose, offering white pepper with some lovely toffee notes and blackcurrants. There's a lovely salty texture and this wonderful, full, juicy mid palate, pushing loads of red fruit and zesty citrus notes forward. So well balanced – gorgeous, juicy and long.

Producer

Rémi Leroy grew up in Meurville, a small town in the Côte des Bar. He trained as a oenologist and agricultural engineer in Bordeaux before taking over his 9ha family estate. In the past the family sold all their grapes to large houses, but Remi now vinifies around a third of the crop under his own label. The Aube area marks the southern extreme of the Champagne region, geographically and geologically it's closer to neighbour Chablis, and also sits on the Kimmeridgian chain.

Most of Rémi's sites are on hillsides. Soils are clay limestone, including Kimmeridgian limestone, and a thin layer of Portland limestone on the plateau above the village. 70% of his vines are Pinot Noir, the rest of their vineyards split about 20% Chardonnay and the rest Pinot Meunier, although they are increasing plantings of Chardonnay. Average vine age is 25 years. Remi works organically and is very hands on in the vineyards, winter pruning, debudding, and leaf-stripping to produce low yields of ripe healthy fruit. He ploughs and uses green cover to ensure aerated soils and does all he can to promote biodiversity and balance in the vineyards. Rémi has moved towards lower intervention winemaking as his experience grows.

Grapes are pressed straight into small steel tanks and oak barrels after picking, and left to settle naturally before fermentation with natural yeasts. This gentle handling reduces oxidation and allows him to use very low SO2 additions. The wines undergo malolactic fermentation, base wines aren't fined or filtered. He leaves wines for an extended time on lees. He picks grapes when they're fully ripe which allows him to use very low dosages across his Champagnes. The bottled wines rest for a further few months after they are disgorged so are ready to drink on release.

_{Country: France | Region: Cote de Bar, Champagne | Alcohol: TBC | Grapes: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Blanc}