Almost no Champagne producer has worked as diligently in the vineyard for as many years as George Laval did, and now his son, Vincent does today. They have farmed organically for well over 30 years. In fact, at a time when helicopter spraying of pesticides was popular in Champagne, it was Georges Laval who took that spray and sprayed by hand his neighbors’ vineyards for them, so that the helicopter wouldn’t pollute his vineyard.
The result of all this hard work in the vineyard over the years are vines that have dug their roots incredibly deep into the ground. This lends to better quality fruit with complexity and vibrancy.
The same care in the vineyard is also given in the winery. Vincent uses a traditional old Coquart vertical press to extract the juice. His press is small by Champagne standards, but it gives him even more control over this very important process.
Laval picks his grapes at a higher degree of ripeness, he never chaptalizes, and he allows the wines to go through malolactic fermentation. All of the wines are fermented in neutral oak barrels with indigenous yeasts in Laval’s cold and small underground cellar. The wines are never fined or filtered. Disgorgement is by hand. Only about 10,000 bottles total are produced each year.
Craig makes a yearly pilgrimage to Champagne to meet and taste with dozens of producers. The highlight of these trips is always his visit to the tiny cellars of Vincent Laval. This is one of the most artisan producers he has ever seen. Everything is by hand here, and it shows in the product.
We feel absolutely fortunate to be able to get a small allocation of the bottles that Vincent produces each year. We are one of the few cities in the US to receive the wine, and the only city in the Midwest.
