JACQUES LASSAIGNE

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The terroir Montgueux, which is very much in demand today, has really only been on the radar of champagne connoisseurs since the sixties of the 20th century. One reason: around 80% of the yield from the vineyards is still sold to the large houses, whose base wines usually disappear in the cuvées of branded champagne.

That is why the few bottles of champagne that are produced there are in great demand - especially those from Jacques Lassaigne, whose wines are undisputedly at the top of the region's quality pyramid.

Chalk dominates the soil here and makes the wines (similar to Burgundy) so uniquely fine, distinctive and mineral-complex that the area has earned the nickname "Montrachet of Champagne" among connoisseurs.

Lassaigne’s 4.7 hectares are located in the east of Montgueux. In order to be able to process grapes from the more southern vineyards and to be able to present the somewhat different style from them, he gave up the status of Recoltant Manipulant and bought grapes of 1 hectare every year. He specifically selects parcels and winegrowers for whom he can define the cultivation methods and the time of harvest in his own way.

All grapes are then slowly and gently pressed in our own winery in a traditional Coquard press.

The plots are then vinified separately in the cellar and even the different pressings of a location are developed separately in order to work out the respective optimum.

The majority is expanded in steel tanks, used wood is rarely used. In the cellar, the vineyard's own yeasts are mainly used; there is only a little fineness and no filtering. The use of sulfur for stabilization is also reduced to what is absolutely necessary.

Dosage is used only minimally, if at all, and this is how puristic wines are created here which know how to shine through their structure and finesse.

They are handcrafted champagnes of sensual elegance, subtle minimalism and great delicacy - firm, refreshing and yet of great complexity.

Facts: N.M., Montgeux, Aube, 4.7 ha., 55,000 bottles / year