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News

Sébastien Moncuit, new comer

After 10 years at Château Malakoff managing a big production, 3 years spent in a laboratory counselling wine growers and merchants, Sébastien Moncuit, son and grandson of a Champagne wine grower, joined last year champagne Mailly Grand Cru, “a fantastic domain of pinot noirs that offers a huge scope of opportunities”!

SebastienMoncuit_MaillyGrandCru (27)Mailly Grand Cru represents 73 hectares planted by 3/4 with pinots noirs and 1/4 of chardonnay. “Our wine growers supply to champagne Mailly grapes of beautiful quality to make the Brut Réserve, symbol of the house”, and a full range of 9 cuvees focusing on pinot noir called Les Echansons, L’Intemporelle, Blanc de Noirs…

 

“What really interests me in this function, is the incredible policy to apply in the vineyard and the terroir to pursue the work of precision implemented by my predecessor. Admittedly the range is fully coherent as all the grapes stem from the same terroir. But to make the vinification by plot more acute, I have to get to know the terroir. To succeed, fro 6 months, I have been identifying and registering 730 plots, shared out over 35 localities. For each of them I have to know the history, the farming method, the actions, but also their specific exposure. Like in Burgundy, I am going to define a kind of ‘climats’ that will provide a great diversity to the wines.

 

This work of by-plot knowledge will enable me to follow up the ripeness of the grapes and to precisely determine the date of harvest. But also to craft cuvees with all the necessary information and to better understand their development. I have to keep informed about the upstream work to adapt the vinifications according to the year. For example, all Mailly wines, including the vintages undergo malolactic fermentation. If one year I get very ripe grapes and wines with a good structure, I can decide to block this last fermentation on 10% of the cuvee to give extra freshness to the vintage.

We also carry out tests for organic vinifications with plots farmed according to this practice, and crafting without sulphur. The mastery of these techniques enable to meet the expectations of the customers and to know the impact on the expression of our wines.” This by-plot work is undertaken on a long term basis in order to get a sustainable viticulture certification with our wine growers; on the short term, to give extra pleasure to the wine lovers and bring a complexer expression for the connoisseurs.

 

For the end of the year, Champagne Mailly Grand Cru proposes Magnum Collection, 4 vintages of the last centurty: 96, tonic, 97, delicate, 98, rich and 1999, precise, salty and lively after swirling. They are presented individually in an artisanal solid oak case, a beautiful idea to remeber for a gift to enter at Christmas in the universe of great champagnes!

 

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History

The village of Mailly is said to derive its name from the Latin Malliusacum. Grapes have been grown in Mailly for centuries, since before the building of Reims Cathedral in the 13th Century. Mailly wines were much appreciated by the church and nobility and graced all of the finest tables from the Middle Ages onward. Mailly winegrowers have witnessed the landmark events that shaped French History, contributing to the rising fortunes of Champagne in the 17th Century.

The House of Mailly inherits a cen- turies-old tradition of winemaking, in a village that was first classified Grand Cru in 1920.

The vineyard has retained that much-coveted status for nearly one hundred years, fuelling the spirit of enterprise that has inspired this House since its foundation in 1929.

Shaking off the hardships of the Great Depression, Mailly Champagne Grand Cru is a testament to the power of positive thinking in the face of adversity.

 

It is now more than 80 years since the founders of this association put their vision to the test. In that time, the House of Mailly has weathered the storms of the 20th century to emerge as one of the brightest lights on the Champagne scene - resounding proof that the business is still firmly headed in the right direction.

Mailly Champagne has soul, one carefully nurtured today by a new generation of winegrowers who cherish independent thought just like their forefathers.

Seventy hectares owned by 25 families make up a single holding Grand Cru vineyard where the separate vinification of selected parcels makes for a hugely varied range of wines.

With a potential annual production capacity of 500,000 bottles, Mailly Grand Cru is a rare gem among Champagne Houses – one with a thousand different facets that must be polished daily to keep it twinkling brightest of all.

All at Mailly Champagne share one over-riding commitment: to make a great festive wine, born of passion and conviction, a tribute to the collective talents of the people on whom its success depends – a Champagne to make our distributors proud and our customers forever happy.

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Vineyards

The Mailly Grand Cru estate extends across 70 hectares, entirely located in the Grand Cru village of Mailly Champagne, at the heart of the Montagne de Reims nature park. The vineyard is divided into 480 plots, planted to the two noble Champagne varietals, the Pinot Noir (75%) and the Chardonnay (25%). Blessed with a unique terroir, the vineyard is distinguished by a location that faces all four points of the compass. Most of the plots are north-facing, favouring subtle, well-balanced wines.

 

Nestling in the centre of these vine-covered slopes is the winery: a glass building built above seven different levels of cellars and a kilometre-long stretch of ‘crayères’ (chalk caves). This is where Mailly Grand Cru Champagne is made, exclusively from Mailly Champagne grapes.

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Winemaking

The estate’s wines owe their character to the fruit of a single Grand Cru vineyard. Their excellence is testament to the skills of the winegrowing team, growers and chef de cave working together. The House offers a range of more than ten wines, each one notable for its exceptional balance, assertive vinous style, class and elegance. Together they celebrate the many different expressions of a quintessential Grand Cru Estate. Mailly’s chalky subsoil and predominance of north-facing slopes brings out a unique mineral freshness in the Pinot Noir, seamlessly melded with that vinous strength that is the mark of a thoroughbred Grand Cru. The Chardonnay blends in perfectly, adding characteristic finesse.

 

Reserve wines are this estate’s particular forte. The House boasts a unique collection of still wines that express the significant variations between harvests, some stored in small tanks others in tuns.

Wines from more than ten distinct vintages are at the chef de cave’s disposal to use as required when blending.

Reserve wines are extraordinarily aromatic and complex, providing an invaluable complement to the wines of the year.

February is the time for blending – that magical, decisive moment when the die is cast.

It is now the task of the tasting committee, guided by the chef de cave, to draw distinctions between a wide variety of aromas and tastes. More than 60 different wines are available for blending, including this year’s wines, reserve wines, oak-aged wines and many more.

The aim is to create a cuvee rooted in harmony and elegance – a symphonic blend of aromas and flavours.

This vaulted cellar is part of a kilometre- long network of crayères that were dug from the chalk by the estate’s founding fathers over a period of more than 30 years. Working every winter from 1929 to 1965, with only pickaxes for tools, they created the perfect environment to mature their Grand Cru champagnes.

It is here that Mailly champagnes develop their effervescence, stored at a constant temperature of 12°C.

And here they will remain for many years to come, buried 19 metres underground in the cool, silent ambiance of these historic chalk

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Inside information

After the ravages of World War I came the market crash of 1929 that plunged the world into Depression.

In response, a group of intrepid winegrowers founded the association of Mailly Champagne producers, joining forces under a motto that sums up everything they stood for:

‘à la tête par la main’

(together we can make it happen).

They bravely determined to make richly expressive wines from fruit grown exclusively in the vineyards of their particular Grand Cru village.

The Mailly Grand Cru estate extends across 70 hectares, entirely located in the Grand Cru village of Mailly Champagne, at the heart of the Montagne de Reims nature park.

The vineyard is divided into 480 plots, planted to the two noble Champagne varietals, the Pinot Noir (75%) and the Chardonnay (25%).

Blessed with a unique terroir, the vineyard is distinguished by a location that faces all four points of the compass. Most of the plots are north-facing, favouring subtle, well-balanced wines.

The vines today are lovingly tended by some 80 winegrowers, all descended from that handful of men who together established this estate and resolved to prove the magnificent potential of the Mailly terroir.

With this goal in mind, they have for many years now applied sustainable methods of cultivation – good for the soil and good for the environment.

Every plot is managed with the greatest of care, and a common devotion to superior-quality fruit.

 

The chef de cave’s strength also rests on his detailed knowledge of the vineyard. He knows that every "lieu-dit" (named plot) has specific characteristics, and works with winegrowers to organize picking and pressing accordingly. He has a gift for selecting the most promising fruit, choosing from a wide variety of plots that he singles out for separate fermentation in small tanks and casks. This emphasis on single-vineyard cuvees provides the chef de cave with a range of exceptional still wines that hold the key to successful blending.

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20 different wines with 52 vintages

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