Legrand Latour

Legrand-Latour is a family estate in Fleury-la-Rivière in the Marne Valley. By its own account, the family has worked its vineyards for four generations. Today the house is run by Thibault Legrand. In 2017 he left the cooperative to which he had previously sold his harvest and began making his own wine. The first vintage under his own name is 2018.

Geo-oenology: wine by layer of rock

His father, a passionate fossil hunter, dug a cellar cave by hand from 1997 onwards. From this grew the approach the son continues: each cuvée is vinified according to the geological layer it comes from. The cuvées are therefore named after geological ages: Éocène, Yprésien, Lutétien, Campanien and Bartonien. The vineyard area is 4.2 hectares, spread across Vandières, Verneuil, Fleury-la-Rivière and Oeuilly.

• Yprésien: marl and deep clays from Vandières and Verneuil, Pinot Meunier with Pinot Noir.
• Lutétien: fossil-rich calcareous sands in Vandières, Chardonnay with Pinot Noir.
• Campanien: pure Meunier, 24 months in barrel on the lees. It grows on pure chalk.

Work in the vineyard and cellar

The switch to organic farming began in 2016. One source gives the grape varieties as 70 per cent Meunier, 20 per cent Pinot Noir and 10 per cent Chardonnay. Organic and Demeter certification followed in 2019. In the cellar, Legrand favours restraint: fermentation takes place in barrels with native yeasts and without additives, and the wine is aged by gravity, without pumps. After bottling, the wines rest on the lees in bottle for 30 to 40 months. One particular feature is the second fermentation: the wine is bottled with the must of the following vintage. All cuvées are Brut Nature.

Visiting and tasting

Visitors can tour the Cave aux Coquillages. A guided visit takes you back 45 million years, to a time when a tropical sea reached into the Champagne. Visits are possible by appointment: book on +33 3 26 58 36 43 or at info@geologie-oenologie.fr. Visits with a tasting start at 17 euros. For lovers of pure, unadorned champagne, this is a house with a signature of its own.