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Wine Description
The Story
La Closerie Les Béguines | a place known as ‘Les Béguines’.
Closerie’ means : vine plot of around 5 to 7.5 acres minded by a tenant
Les Béguines’ means : vine shoots swath. A bundle is composed of several béguines
Area : around 5 unsegmented acres – border under the name of ‘Champagne’
Geology : paleocene 59 -55 million years – limestone sand of the Thanétien
Altitude : 120m
Grape variety : 94% pinot meunier- massal selection 3309 and 5BB teleki rootstock planted in 1964. 2% pinot gris massal selection- riparia and 41B rootstock planted in 2000.2% chardonnay – massal selection- riparia and 41B planted in 2000. |
Density : of 8333 to 10000 plants per hectare
Orientation : north-south
Undocumented viticulture: manual work has been produced after observation. Adapted to the natural habitat without dogmatism.
- Since 1994 no more insecticides : pionneering reintroduction of typhlodromes
- Since 1996 no more herbicides : soil work by scratching and weeding on the whole estate
- Since 2000 work on mycorhization
- Use of moistening sulphur and absolute restriction in use of copper
First harvest : 1987
First produced wine : 1998
Fermentation : Spontaneous fermentation – lazy vinification
Fermentation 10 month ageing on the whole in wood barrels
Malolactic fermentation without obligation
Without machine or electricity
Barrels in different woods and capacities of 225, 228, 400, 500, 600 litres
Slow bottle filling by gravity
Exclusively extra brut since 1998. Dosage : 2.5 g per bottle
Drawings, label and back label text : Jérôme Prévost
Vintage 2009
This warm year started with a cold winter and mild spring temperatures. Early summer was variable but August and September provided ample sunshine and warmth contributing to fine grape health. Pinot Noir especially excelled. Grape harvest, of generally high sugar content yet soft acidity, started on September 8th. 2009 is a year of generous wines that showed well early. An apt example of a vintage of the recent era, in which retaining freshness poses more problems than attaining ripeness. Good grape health contributed to the overall quality, and despite the richness of the wines, heaviness did not end up being an issue. There is quite some heterogenity amongst the year's produce but the best seem truly age-worthy. The vintage's finest include Louis Roederer Cristal and Cristal Rosé, Dom Pérignon and Philipponnat Clos des Goisses.