Item Number: 4445 UPC: 3760187480022

Country: France
Region: Champagne Sub Region: Aube
Appellation/AVA: Champagne AOC
Estate Grown Wine: Yes
Grape(s): 100% Pinot Noir
Type: Wine - Sparkling
Bottle Size: 750ml Pack: 6
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 12
Viticulture: Practicing Biodynamic
Soil Type: Clay-limestone

Winemaking Notes: A cuvée fermented and matured in neutral oak barrels, this Champagne is distinguished by its elegance and lightness. It has been produced with the greatest care and attention, with a special focus on minimal intervention in the winemaking process. 'Efflorescence' was made to evolve in the bottle and has excellent potential to develop nuance as it ages. This wine doesn't see any additional dosage at disgorgement.

Pairing Suggestion: Tempura Shrimp

About the Estate: Though Dominique Moreau has only been in control of the Marie-Courtin estate (named for her grandmother) since 2000, her Champagnes have come to achieve an elegance that is already gaining an international reputation. Her vineyard is small: just 2.5 hectares, but is more than enough to create her vision of single-vineyard, single-varietal Champagnes. Her Pinot Noir grapes, which comprise 90 percent of her planting, thrive in the vineyard’s clay and chalk soils, and create complex wines with vibrant minerality. She uses organic and biodynamic viticulture in the fields, hand harvesting, natural yeasts, and a focus on low yields to preserve intensity in her grapes.

Her hillside vineyard in Polisot (located the next town over from Celles-sur-Ource, where Cédric Bouchard lives and works) is home to 35 to 40 year-old Pinot vines, which were chosen by a unique process known as massal: rather than creating vine clones from one mother plant, massal practice employs many exceptional plants to create clones. This enables a genetically diverse crop of grapes, and a complex, layered flavor in the resulting wines.