2012 Georges Laval Cuvee Les Chenes

Description

Distributor’s Notes:

The Laval family has been growing vines for four generations, but Georges Laval did not begin producing estate-bottled champagne until 1971, and has been practicing organic viticulture ever since, certified by Ecocert. His son Vincent joined the estate after finishing his studies in 1991, and has been in charge of the cellars since 1996. Laval’s vineyard holdings comprise just 2.5 hectares, including a half-hectare of meunier in Chambrecy, but the more important 2 hectares are in the premier cru village of Cumières, spread over seven parcels. Average vine age is over 30 years, and the oldest vines of the estate are over 70 years of age. In the cellar, the grapes are pressed in a traditional Coquard vertical press that holds a mere 2,000 kilograms, and fermentation takes place in barrel, with indigenous yeasts. The wines are bottled late, usually about ten months after the harvest, and they are neither fined, filtered nor cold-stabilized,with an unusually low level of total sulfur in the finished champagnes, usually below 20 milligrams per liter.