Le Brun de Neuville is the specialist of the famous "Blanc de Blancs" champagnes. Chardonnay wines are characterized by delicate aromas, floral notes, citrus, sometimes mineral. With a slow evolution, it is the ideal grape variety for ageing wines. Pinot noir will bring roundness, body and length on the palate.
The harvest is manual to keep the bunches intact. There is a strict selection of the grapes that are then sorted according to varietal, provenance (7 different villages), slope orientation, age of the vine and cultivation techniques. As soon as the harvest begins, our winemaker enters the stage: Mr. Gilles Baltazart, winemaker since 1986, in charge of the elaboration of our cuvées, in collaboration with the Maison’s president. His watchwords: Respecting tradition whilst using modern tools and techniques.
There are two pressing sites which avoids transporting the grapes far, allowing the pressing to begin as early as possible. This is a gentle pressing enabling a better extraction of the juice. The fermentation of juices allows the conversion of sugars by yeasts into alcohol and CO2. This first fermentation takes place in thermoregulated stainless steel tanks or in oak barrels on certain cuvées. Thanks to its qualitative supply, Brun de Neuville rigorously selects special yeasts, an indispensable tool for fermentation, in order to obtain the desired aromatic development.
By combining wines from different crus, villages, years and soils, we obtain a wide range of aromas giving subtle and complex blends. The objective of our cellar manager, Gilles Baltazart, is to create a champagne that reflects a style, our style, which he seeks year after year to perpetuate the characteristics. The wines are then bottled, some cuvées are closed with a cork. The second transformation of sugar into alcohol and CO2 by the action of yeasts is carried out in the bottle. Carbon dioxide is thus trapped in it, creating effervescence. It is at this stage that our wine becomes Champagne.
Our champagnes mature on their lees in our cellars at 15 meters underground for a minimum of 4 years, in order to develop their aromas. This ageing time extends to more than 6 to 8 years for our special cuvées, especially our "Authentique" cuvees which age with a real cork stopper, ensuring a maturation worthy of exceptional champagnes!
The last stage of clarification of champagne is the riddling. Day after day, the bottles are rotated to concentrate the yeast particles in the bottle neck. The disgorging makes it possible to expel the concentrated deposit from the neck of the bottle. After disgorging and before closing and muzzling the bottle, we add the expedition liqueur: a mixture of reserve wine and sugar that will define the final style of our Champagne: Extra Brut, Brut, Demi-Sec. In order to obtain optimum maturity, after disgorging, our champagnes return for at least six months to the cellar. The bottles are then labelled and shipped.