Extra Brut

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 break from the blending-house orthodoxy of Champagne — vinifying each parcel separately, sourcing used barrels from Hubert Lamy in St-Aubin and Thomas Pico in Chablis, and describing his ambition as 'More than Champagne, Champagne wine.' The 9.5 hectares span Meurville, Bergères, and Fontaine in the Aube, where Kimmeridgian clay-limestone soils — geologically identical to Chablis — deliver a chiselled, saline mineral tension that reads closer to the Yonne than to the Marne Valley. East and southwest-facing hillsides above the Le Landion tributary in Meurville add diurnal lift that preserves acidity through warm years. The Extra Brut is a 70% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Meunier blend; 30% reserve wine drawn from a perpetual solera started in 2009 adds layered depth. Fermentation proceeds with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel and used Burgundian barrels (300–400 L), with full malolactic fermentation and 18–20 months on lees — well beyond appellation minimums. Bottled unfined and unfiltered at 3 g/L dosage. What sets this apart: the solera reserve structure, combined with Kimmeridgian minerality and Burgundian cellar discipline, produces a textural density almost never found at this dosage level in Aube Champagne. The 2019 base delivers intensity and energy; drink now through 2028.