CHÂTEAU DU MOULIN-À-VENT

The earliest writings referring to the site known today as Château du Moulin-à-Vent date back to 1732, when it was known as Château des Thorins. The property was purchased in 2009 by Jean-Jacques Parinet who invested heavily to revive the estate, with the aim of making the best Moulin-à-Vent. Jean-Jacques began by replanting 70,000 vines, moving to sustainable viticulture and investing in new French oak barrels.

Château du Moulin-à-Vent has 37 hectares which include the top single vineyards ‘Champ du Cour’ and ‘La Rochelle‘. The vines are densely planted at 9,000 vines per hectare and yields are low, between 20 –35 hectolitres per hectare, versus the official minimum requirements of 6,000 vines per hectare and yields of 56 hectolitres per hectare for wines of the Moulin-à-Vent appellation.

Here, Gamay is given the royal treatment and the resulting wines will develop and improve beautifully over time in the bottle. The wines are fermented in stainless-steel tanks and then aged in French oak with sizes ranging from 228 litres, 350 litres to 500 litres, depending on the wine. The Moulin-à-Vent is a blend of their five top sites: Moulin-à-Vent, ‘La Rochelle’, ‘La Roche’, ‘Les Thorins’ and ‘Les Caves‘. The Château is gradually reducing its use of new oak, to allow the purity of fruit to shine through. As such, the 2016 is aged 80% in stainless-steel tanks and 20% in used oak barrels. It is round and balanced, with structure and lift from 40% whole cluster fermentation. The ‘Champ de Cour’ is aged for 14 months in 10% new French oak barrels. The granite soils, 220 metres altitude and windy conditions give an elegant freshness to the wine. Whole cluster fermentation is not used here because the stems struggle to ripen. ‘La Rochelle’, arguably the top single vineyard in Moulin-à-Vent, sits at 280 metres in altitude, with vines that are over 80 years old. The low-yielding vines create intensely concentrated wines that need time to blossom. The wine is aged in 228 and 350 litre French oak barrels, 65% of which are new. The 2016 ‘La Rochelle’ was named one of Decanter’s wines of the year in 2020.

Edmond Besserat founded Besserat Champagne in 1843. After Edmond, his grandsons continued to build the reputation of the house. In 1927, Edmond Besserat, a grandson of the founder, married Yvonne de Meric de Bellefon, who came from another prestigious Champagne family, and the house of Besserat de Bellefon Champagne was born. The historic Bellefon Château is world-renowned, in Épernay, in the heart of the Champagne region. Besserat de Bellefon has continued to be a leading European Champagne brand for over 150 years. Today, Besserat de Bellefon is part of the Lanson-BCC Group’s portfolio of prestigious Champagnes and produces about 40,000 cases of the Cuvée des Moines range.

Cuvée des Moines or Blend of the Monks, was named in honor of the early Benedictine monks who were instrumental in developing the Champagne method. The crémant winemaking technique employs a reduced dosage, which lowers the bottle pressure about one atmosphere, so that the Champagne is soft, creamy and packed with tiny bubbles. Unlike most traditional brut non-vintage Champagne, Cuvée des Moines is designed to be enjoyed throughout a meal. This classic (non-vintage) Champagne is produced from wines from a combination of the current vintage and previous vintages (reserve wines), rather than a single year. The art of blending wines from several vintage years ensures that there is consistently a high-quality, elegant wine in every bottle. Cuvée des Moines is skillfully blended by Besserat de Bellefon’s Wine Maker, Cedric Thiebault. Besserat de Bellefon is available in several expressions of the crémant style: Brut, Brut Rosé, Blanc de Blancs Gran Cru, Blanc de Noir Gran Cru, Extra Brut and Vintage Brut.

Four generations of French vintners, lives lived between vineyards and winery, day after day. The Lancelot-Pienne story dates back to about 120 years ago when family members founded the base of the maison at Cramant, in the heart of the Côte des Blancs.

We are at the beginning of the 20th century and a young Jean-Baptiste Lancelot is dedicated to cultivating its first acres of vines in the French countryside; he will do so well that a few years later he will be called to work for a respectable home: a passion passed from father to son, so much so that Jean Lancelot is little more than twenty years after a training course in the most important champagne mansions French, will begin to produce its first cuvée independently.

It is the second post-war period and from then on the climb to success is dizzying, in 1967, Albert, son of Jean, undertook a process of advocacy and winemaking techniques, bride Brigitte Pienne, a wealthy lady of Champagne, also a daughter of vintners of Champagne. Land owned by both families is actually united to give life to the current corporate structure, with about 8.3 hectares of property scattered between the Côte des Blancs and the Marne Valley.

The name of the maison that becomes Lancelot-Pienne finally is changed. Since 2005, agronomic and oenological management has been entrusted to Gilles Lancelot, an enologist at the University of Reims and an innate passion for work in the village.

The results are impressive, 70,000 bottles produced per year (40% for the domestic market France, the remaining 60% exported to the whole world: Benelux, Italy, Japan and California). Therefore, it is impossible to let go, any pilgrim of bubbles in its oenological purification path should definitely stop here, we assure you the essence of the "Cramant sanctuary" in bottles with unique Champagne, for softness, roundness and creamines