Champagne Day 6 – Léguillette Romelot
- Elaine Cadman
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
All Champagne properties are beautiful, but some are more beautiful than others. As we got acquainted with their vineyards, we had a lovely view of their fairytale forest right at the edge. I was really excited to see the horses because Christine’s email signature has a picture
of her with a horse so I assumed
they were around. As we were arriving I caught a glimpse of them just outside the vineyard. Christine and her daughter Sara greeted us as well as their dog Taya, a husky-like creature who, by Sara’s definition, is a mix of 3 breeds, “fluffy, fluffy, and wants to run away”. She bounded around us with a baguette at one point, how French!
There was a joyful, feminine energy as they explained the vineyards and the winemaking to us over some crow discussions in the adjacent forests. I was thinking back to Mouchão and the birds in their abutting forest and how lively it is to have the wildlife involved.
Although they estimate they’ve lost 70% of this year’s harvest to frost, they somehow remain
optimistic about winemaking. They have grass between all the rows and do not use pesticides or herbicides. They grow ancient varieties like Arbanne and Petit Meslier and are very proud of their town Charly-sur-Marne and its focus on Pinot Meunier. They have sheep that they foster in the winter and the sheep eat the old grapes and leaves and fertilize the vineyards. “A cycle of good things” is what Sara said.
The horses are about 20 years old, Rebelle and Orizon, and they still help plough the fields. Christine said Rebelle is aptly named. They don’t hear well so did not come to see us.
Christine does not like oak in Champagne, full stop. So their wines are all done in stainless steel except for these awesome enameled tanks, basically giant Le Creusets that are from her grandfather’s era. I stuck my head and flashlight in one and they are really cool!
They use them for perpetual reserve and reserve wines.
There are exactly 2 oak barrels for Ratafia and one Amphora for experimental purposes – their first 2 tries with the Amphora were “not good”, but the 3rd with only Meunier was excellent and they bottled 200 Magnums.
We had a really lovely tasting with their linear, mineral-driven wines. Christine was really in her element and she also loves making cocktails. A treat of a Champagne and Ratafia cocktail was a lovely way to end the tasting and because it’s quite a big holiday in France – May Day – they were prepared with Muguet (lily of the valley) all wrapped up for us in tin foil. She said the local kids go harvest them in the forest and sell them on the roadside. They smelled amazing and no doubt enhanced our rental car aroma. Just before leaving we asked about their musical inclinations since
all of their labels incorporate music in some way. They very enthusiastically showed us some videos of their band in action with both Christine and Sara playing Clarinet. One brother plays the saxophone and the other the tuba, but he is very shy so is not in the band. They were gearing up to play at the festival later that day in their bright p
urple uniforms.
Onward to Paris for a brief stay before our flight on Sunday. We were so very lucky with the weather the entire time and had a great time walking around Paris and eating all the things. A wonderful way to end the trip!
A few photos from Paris:
Au Revoir!
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