Our News
Once more, the grape harvest started late August. Sunny and hot weather, cool nights and some providential rains at key stages of the vegetative growth of the vine sum up this past year in the vineyards. These truly ideal conditions suggest a great 2022 Vintage.
We wish to thank our usual team of grape pickers again for their thorough work and their enthusiasm that contributed to this successful harvest.
The extraordinary 2022 harvest has made it possible to produce an outstanding red wine.
The grapes were picked early in the morning on September 5, when it was the coolest to have premium conditions for the picking. With the impeccable sanitary conditions of the grapes from the old plots of Pinot Noir, it was almost unnecessary to sort out the grapes. The ideal conditions for ripening have added a fine concentration on the palate that will be present in the coming blending of the Brut Rosé Héritage Premier Cru.
We are delighted to announce that our Cuvées Brut Héritage Premier Cru and Brut Blanc de Blancs Terroir have once again been awarded a Gold Medal at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, a competition that has become a reference for international contests over its 30 years’ history.
Moreover we were honoured to welcome Mr Thomas COSTENOBLE, the wine expert and director of this Concours: as he was visiting our area this summer, he came in person to give us the medals and diplomas.
We took the opportunity to visit the cellars and taste some old bottles selected from our wine cellar and all for the greatest pleasure of our taste buds!
Last June, Laurent and his wife, Florence, visited our main Italian importers and distributors.
From Torino to Venice, via Genova, Milano and Verona, they immersed themselves during their journey in the activities of our business partners, which reinforced the existing links with them. We are very grateful for their warm welcome, which will undoubtedly leave excellent memories.
A late trimming made it possible to protect the bunches from the sun while helping the ripening of the grapes.
Video here
On March 22, we visited the students at Lycée Émilie du Chatelet in Serris, in the Paris area.
We started with a tour of the school, especially a tour of its hospitality section with M. Nicolas Gauthier and M. Francois-Xavier Lefebvre, their teachers for vocational training.
We then presented our family estate to the students during a commented tasting session of the whole range of our champagnes.
The students are regularly trained in real-life professional situations to face the reality of their future jobs. This is why they have to prepare a whole menu, to welcome the guests and serve them at the table. Thanks to the experience they develop via this training, the students have imagined a gourmet menu for this special occasion where guests were able to taste our champagnes.
We sincerely thank M. Gauthier and M. Lefebvre for this warm evening during which we could exchange on our professions and pass on part of our passion to tomorrow’s young actors!
Last March, we were pleased to host our importers from the United States while they were on a family trip in France. The story of Blizzard Wines started in 1981 in the heart of Oregon’s wine area. The grapes then produced on the family estate were first sold to local wineries. But from 2007 onwards Dana and Nick Blizzard decided to process their own harvests. The existing vineyard was then restructured, and new vines were planted to produce premium wines. The Blizzard reputation started with the 2011 Vintage that was highly successful. The higher demand led to the building of a new cellar and of a tasting room. Based on shared human and professional values, our partnership started in 2017 and we proudly share their motto and their approach as described on their website:
« What good things we build end up building us. Our goal is to make our customers feel part of our journey, educate them about the process and entertain them with warmth and love. Wine is such an amazing tool to bring people together. »
The month of May is largely dedicated to disbudding activities. This operation is totally manual and consists in removing the shoots that don’t bear fruits in order to redirect the sap towards those that will bear the future bunches of grapes.
As we are now equipped with electrical trolleys, we can now move comfortably between the vine rows.
January is traditionally punctuated by the blending projects. This crucial stage determines the identity of our future Cuvées which will be bottled in March.
The first step of this process is to taste each vat separately, to define their gustatory characteristics in order to give them marks.
Then the blending work consists in finding the most harmonious balance between the various grape varieties, the reserve wines and those from the year of the harvest.
Several trials are necessary to find the perfect blend for each of our Cuvées of the range under preparation. A slight variation concerning the year of the harvest or the proportion of a grape variety can lead to major differences !
The complex nature of this stage requires the assistance of two oenologists, namely Jacques-Emmanuel Barbier from the Institut Oenologique de Champagne and Philippe Benoit, who has now retired but has been faithful to our House since the 70s.
Our team keeps growing !
Last September, Érine, a student in BTS Viticulture-Oenologie in Avize, joined our team for a two-year period as an apprentice.
Given the interest that Érine shows for the cultivation of vines and vinification, this field experience will allow her to truly discover the daily activities of wine growers, the team work and more widely the management of a wine estate.
What a real pleasure to meet again with Wijnhuis Bollaert, our main Belgian importer, in Merelbeke (near Gent) for the traditional Horeca festival !
Wijnhuis Bollaert invites its professional clients to meet its main wine suppliers for 4 days in the month of October. This is the opportunity for our House to introduce our range to discerning customers and to exchange with other wine growers from around the world.
This year, we showcased our Cuvée Brut Héritage that has become increasingly successful !
As a loyal customer of our Champagne House over the past 13 years, Mark Phillips has become our exclusive importer for England. As he wished to combine both his passion for champagne and for charity support, he is going to showcase us while creating his fundraising association called “Champagne that Cares”.
The principle is simple : each Jean Dumangin bottle that is bought generates a donation to support the following charities :
- Macmillan Cancer Support, offering great quality care to persons suffering from cancer throughout the UK.
- St Luke’s Hospices, offering Harrow and Brent inhabitants quality paliative care.
Find more information on https://www.champagneforcharity.org/
We are very happy to collaborate with Mr Phillips and we warmly thank him for this great partnership.
In keeping with the High Environmental Value certification obtained in 2016, we keep trying to stay as close as possible to Nature. After stopping the weed killers and favouring environment-friendly cultivation practices, we continue our commitment to maintain biodiversity.
Last June, two beehives were installed in our orchard. Florence Dumangin who took this initiative is now in charge of this project as she trained in beekeeping.
Given the late installation and the vagaries of the weather, the first honeypots were harvested during the grape harvest. Mainly based on buckwheat, they were delicious! Other beehives are likely to be added in a near future.
We are looking forward to tasting the next crop!
As we closely followed the grape ripening, we decided to start harvesting on September 13.
The harvest lasted 12 days, which made it possible the picking in each plot only when grapes were ripe.
We could fear the worst with the 2021 weather conditions, with frost, hail and heavy rains.
Thorough work, close attention, precise follow-up and responsiveness throughout the year have finally made it possible to obtain a quality harvest that is quite satisfactory and beyond our expectations.
We also wish to thank our usual team of grape pickers whose serious work and cheerfulness have greatly contributed to this successful harvest.
Located on the edge of the vineyard in the neighbouring town of Rilly-la-Montagne, our orchard contributes to the maintenance of the biodiversity by perfectly fitting into the High Environmental Value certification of our Champagne House.
Planted with fruit trees provided by a regional nurseryman (apple trees, cherry trees, mirabelliers), it is bordered by a hedge of lime and hazel trees.
We also grow 70 rose trees in the colours of our new range. At this time it is the full production, fresh bouquets are regularly picked to enhance our House!
In order to be in line with our new range, we replaced the visuals in our reception areas.
Keen on photography, Laurent recently equipped himself with a photo studio allowing the creation of all the the visuals in complete autonomy.
The bouquets of roses and the creation of our own communication tools add to the diversity of the family productions.
Between the heavy rains and the heat waves of the recent past weeks, the capricious weather has caused a rapid and intense growth of the vine. We called on Florianne, Erine and Emeline to help us!
After doing the disbudding and the lifting works, we have just finished the trellising.
We will then continue the mechanical weeding in order to keep the soils clean until the harvest.
To rethink the labelling to better showcase our champagnes in a constantly changing world is not a decision that can be taken lightly. It took several months to reach this result which adds more elegance and refinement to the family brand.
A quite thorough work was carried out when the labels were created as they now display a minimalist message. We have made the choice to associate this new collection to chalk, the limestone rock that composes the soil of our ‘terroir’ and that recalls the specific minerality of our wines. As for the emblematic rose, it has gained more visibility thanks to a colour scheme that depends on the type of wines.
The boxes where those flasks are placed have also been renewed. Their new flat and streamlined design perfectly matches the subtlety of the new range.
For this special occasion, Baptiste Dumangin and his partner Margaux Monnois have composed and recorded the music for the presentation video. You are invited to discover this family project at the page "vidéos". Discover the various Baptiste's projects at https://www.baptistedumangin.com/projets
This ESAT located in Reims has been open since 1963. Its mission is to provide social and educational assistance through employment to disabled persons who cannot momentarily or permanently work in an ordinary business environment.
Thus these workers can be asked to perform various tasks in some champagne houses such as adding labels.
Franck Ledoux, the President of this institution, has wished to go further and create their own champagne cuvée. To carry out this project, he and his teams have decided to rely on some wine makers who produce quality champagne.
And thanks to all these partnerships, the Deule Aysate Champagne was born!
Mid-January we had the immense pleasure to welcome several workers accompanied by Mr Ledoux. This day was the opportunity for them to proceed with the replacement of wire caps, with the capping and labelling of their cuvée.
A beautiful day that marked the beginning of a long-term human collaboration!
Created in 1980, the International Club of the Toques Blanches is an association of renowned chefs that aims to uphold the tradition of the French cuisine around the world.
Last September, Marion introduced our range of champagne to M. Enzo Franceschelli, the President of the Association and the Head Chef at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Paris.
This fruitful encounter gave birth to a partnership through which we are honored to contribute to the transmission of the French culinary expertise.
