Grande Charte Champagne wines come from two quite different terroirs: the Marne Valley and the Aube.
The Marne Valley
In the Marne Valley, we look for the best grapes from one variety: Pinot Meunier.
It is a black grape with white juice, and the second most planted variety in Champagne behind Pinot Noir and before Chardonnay. Its bunches of small, round berries have a thick, bluish skin and their flesh is colorless. At the beginning of the vegetative cycle, a fine, whitish, flour-like down appears on the underside of the young, cottony leaves, giving it its evocative name « Meunier » which means « Miller ».
This grape variety thrives on the clay-limestone, marl, clay and even sandy soils of the Marne Valley.
A grape variety for show featuring tender, round, supple, fruity and greedy savors: this grape variety knows how to seduce while keeping its panache. The first quality of its juice is patience. This grape variety is adapted to maturing and offers great Champagnes for ageing, for the greatest pleasure of Grande Charte owners.
Aube
The Aube vineyard is an island of plots, some 150 kilometers south of Reims.
With the exception of a few hectares planted on the Sézanne hillside and the Montgueux hillock, near Troyes, the bulk of the Aube vineyards extend a little further south, on the Côte des Bar, next to Chablis Burgundy. In the Seine, Arce and Ource valleys, the vines cover the terroirs of the Aube, these clay-limestone soils older than the chalk of the famous Côte des Blancs, in the Marne. On this territory, the hillsides are covered with woods or forests. Everything reminds us of Burgundy, up to its king grape variety: the Pinot Noir. It is indeed in the most planted grape, but some parcels also allow us to obtain excellent Chardonnay (think of Chablis which shares the same soil) or even Pinot Blanc produced in tiny quantities and which we find in the cuvée Collection Quatre Cépages by Grande Charte.
Wine, great wine, is made in the vineyard. This is why the founders of Grande Charte surrounded themselves, very early and well before the house was named and constituted, with a narrow circle of winegrowers whose vines produce absolutely exceptional grapes. These winemakers, and their vines, are the essence. Just like that.
From the harvest to the Grande Charte bottles, a team of experts accompanies the fermentation, the blending and the maturation up to the final disgorgment. The founders wanted to distinguish themselves through innovation and an uncompromising approach to the search for absolute quality. The objective was to bring each wine to its full potential. This results in a set of vintages, clearly different in character but all in line with a refined, prestigious and gastronomic style.For this, the work is accompanied by the services of our two cellar managers: James d'Arsonville, former director of oenology in the appellation and to whom some of the greatest names in Champagne owe their fame. At his side, Hervé Jestin brings his expertise as a pioneer of organic or biodynamic viticulture and vinification in Champagne, but also in other appellations and abroad. Hervé is also the cellar master of another Champagne house and still produces his own vintages on small plots that he uses as a field of experimentation. At his side, Hervé Jestin brings his expertise as a pioneer of organic or biodynamic viticulture and vinification in Champagne, but also in other appellations and abroad.Hervé is also the cellar master of another Champagne house and still produces his own vintages on small plots that he uses as a field of experimentation. It is thanks to the combined talents of each of these outstanding personalities that Grande Charte has been able to raise its cuvées to the highest level.
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