2021 Geoffroy "Lieu Dit Madelonne" Coteaux Champenois Rouge, Champagne, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

100% Pinot Noir From a single site in Cumières 1er Cru farmed biodynamically. The Madelonne plot is Geoffroy's historic plot of sandy clay for Pinot Noir in the heart of Cumière. The plot is nearly 100 years old, and contains old vines planted by the Geoffroy ancestors, representing a precious generational heritage. Geoffroy has isolated certain barrels of old vines to create this hillside, whose low yields give it exceptional density. Grapes are hand picked at optimum ripeness and sorted before vatting. The wine completes cold maceration for a few hours followed by vinification in open oak vats with pumping and a little punching down. It is important that the grapes arrive in the vat at full maturity to obtain fine aromas. Geoffroy uses spontaneous fermentation and aged this wine in Burgundy oak barrels for 12 months. The wines are neither filtered nor fined.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

The Geoffroy family have been winemakers since the seventeenth century and the property has stayed in the family for almost 400 years, uninterrupted. In addition to prime parcels in Cumières, the family has holdings in Damery, Hautvillers, and Dizy. Geoffroy’s vines average about 20 years of age, and the oldest are from 1926. Viticulture is described as lutte intégrée, or “integrated pest control”—it is heavily aimed at sustainability, eschewing all chemical weedkillers and employing methods such as the planting of cover crops, tilling of the soil and the encouraged habitation of predatory insects to combat vine pests.