Champagne Remi Leroy Blanc de Blancs

When Rémi Leroy returned to his family's Côte des Bar estate in 2006 after completing a Masters in Oenology at Bordeaux, he made a deliberate choice to vinify Champagne the way Burgundy treats its grands crus — parcel by parcel, gravity-fed, in used barrels sourced from Hubert Lamy of St-Aubin and Thomas Pico of Chablis. The Blanc de Blancs is the purest expression of that conviction.

The 100% Chardonnay fruit is drawn from Kimmeridgian clay-limestone soils in the villages of Meurville, Bergères, and Fontaine — the same Jurassic geology that defines Chablis, sitting at the southern edge of Champagne's Aube. That cold, mineral-dense substrate drives taut acidity and a saline, chalky tension rarely encountered in Marne-grown Chardonnay.

Fermentation proceeds entirely in used Burgundian barriques (300–400 L) with indigenous yeasts, with full malolactic fermentation and 36 months on lees — triple the appellation minimum. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered, with dosage held to Extra Brut levels consistent with Leroy's house philosophy of minimal intervention.

What separates this from virtually every other Aube Blanc de Blancs is the insistence on 100% barrel aging for the full lees period — a Burgundian commitment almost unheard of in grower Champagne at this scale.

The 2018 vintage delivered generous ripeness across Champagne with preserved natural acidity; expect a wine of textural density and drive, approachable now but structured for several more years of development.