Champagne Rousseaux Batteux Louvois Grand Cru "le Mont" - Extra Brut

Adrien Rousseaux, fourth generation of a family farming Montagne de Reims since the late 18th century, made a deliberate break from house-style blending: every plot is vinified separately, and 'Le Mont' is the purest expression of that philosophy — a single parcel of just 23.25 ares on the southern slopes of Louvois Grand Cru, planted in 1961 with Pinot Noir whose root systems now reach deep into the chalk-and-marl subsoil that defines Louvois's cooler, south-facing microclimate.

Those deep chalk reserves drive the wine's taut mineral spine, while the clay-marl overlay on the southern aspect adds textural weight and red-fruit density uncommon in northern Montagne de Reims expressions. Fermentation takes place in oak barrels (fûts de chêne), with approximately 10% new oak used estate-wide — enough to introduce subtle oxygen exposure and preserve a faint sweetness without imposing wood flavour. The wine is bottled without filtration and without cold stabilisation, at Extra Brut dosage of 1–3 g/l, meaning a light sediment may form and the wine's raw chalk-driven texture arrives unmediated.

What separates 'Le Mont' within the grower-Champagne category is the combination of sub-quarter-hectare single-plot sourcing, 60-year-old vines, and zero stabilisation at a price point where most houses still blend for consistency. The 2020 base vintage showed layered red-fruit complexity with the saline, chalky tension characteristic of Louvois's deep chalk terroir.