Georges Laval Garennes NV
Georges LavalGrape: Pinot Meunier Chardonnay Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2018
Type: Sparkling
Elegant, precise and distinctive. This champagne had won me over just with the nose. Its delightful and more herbal than floral, almost minty while exuberant.
The palate is round, elegant and balanced. Super precise with a floral character, and notes of dried pears, hazelnuts and crushed flowers. A beautiful, subtle and elegant wine with very fine mousse (bubble). Precise while beautifully balanced enticing one to pay attention to it. At over $ 100 not a party wine.
Garennes is a multi-vintage solera type blend featuring Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir & Chardonnay from the villages of Chambrecy, Damery, Cumières & Hautvillers. This ongoing blend is then blended with at least 50% of the current vintage base wine from the same plots and varietals. Current base wines is 2021.
Georges Laval
This tiny, impeccably run estate in Cumières is known only to a select few connoisseurs of champagne. You could drive through the village a hundred times without knowing it was there. Behind these simple, unassuming wooden doors, however, lies one of Champagne’s great treasures.
While the Laval family has been growing vines for four generations, Georges Laval began producing estate-bottled champagne in 1971. His son Vincent has been in charge of the cellars since 1996.
Two hectares are in the premier cru village of Cumières, spread over seven parcels. The average vine age is over 30 years, and the oldest vines of the estate are over 70 years of age.
The Lavals have been practicing organic viticulture since 1971, certified by Ecocert. “It’s a little more difficult to work organically than conventionally,” says Vincent Laval, “but it can be done, of course, and afterward you have a better conscience.”
Organic compost is used, and cover crops are planted in all of the plots, with regular tilling.