Valley of the Marne Region Champagnes

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Gary Westby from K&L Wine Merchants and we're talking about the Valley of the Marne subregion. The Valley of the Marne is one of the most interesting places in champagne, I think probably the most interesting subregion because of the multiple and very, very complex soil and exposure elements that you see when you go there. While the Cote d'Blanc or the Montagne d'Rheims has a few different exposures and focuses in primarily just on one grape, in the Valley of the Marne, you have a little bit of everything and that makes it exciting to me. I've brought out some bottles to show you as examples. This DeMeric is from the Village of Ay, and that is in the far eastern part of the Valley of the Marne and where they grow primarily Pinot Noir. While moving a little bit to the west in Cunier, which is coincidently the very, very first place to harvest each year in champagne, you have a really, really dead south facing amphitheater, very, very warm micro climate and this particular single vineyard bottling and the Lachef Beruse is made from all three varieties and fairly even parts, Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay. This is a really, really well-balanced example of the middle part of the Valley of the Marne. When you move out to the eastern part, or excuse me, the western part of the Valley of the Marne, heading back towards Paris, you start to see more and more Meunier planted. This is 80% Meunier from Collard-Picard and 20% Chardonnay. The Meunier grape is probably the most misunderstood in all of the region. The big houses are always trying to sell it off as third rate, while good examples of it are among the finest of what can be achieved in champagne."