A few years back we first came across the champagnes of Ruppert-Leroy with their importer and immediately knew that these were something special. Since then, the winery has had all the signs of break-out fame: from appearing on the finest wine lists of New York and Paris to being written up by the likes of Peter Liem. All of which have made these small production grower champagnes all the more rare.The story of Ruppert-Leroy is quite a charming one. The main character is Bénédicte Ruppert, who learned to make wine from Bertrand Gautherot at Vouette & Sorbée (with a lesson or two from Pierre Overnoy thrown in!). She inherited some vines from her Dad and also planted a few in a pasture in the Aube where her family has a farm of horses, cows, sheep, and chickens. Today she has about four hectares of vines and farms them biodynamically with her husband Manu Leroy. The animals are still happily running about.Their work in the vineyards follow certain principles: use of lightweight tractors to avoid compacting the soil, spreading of compost and cow-horn manure from their own farm to encourage a complex microbial life in the soil, use of cow-horn silica, infusions and plant decoctions to support the balance of the vines and their natural defense systems, braiding of the upper vine shoots to avoid topping off which induces stress to the plant, de-budding to reduce yields, and careful hand harvesting.In the cellar, their quest for the simplest winemaking has lead them toward the spirit of ‘vin nature.' Each cuvée comes from a single vintage of a single vineyard and is bottled ‘brut nature’ with no dosage. Since the 2013 vintage, no sulfur is used at the winery.
Details
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Grape Variety
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Vintage
2020
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Size
750ml
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Farming Practice
Biodynamic
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Style
Crisp , Elegant , Minerally
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Sweetness
Dry
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Body
Light Bodied