Marie Courtin

Polisot, Côte des Bar (Barséquanais) — Champagne

Certified Organic & Biodynamic (Ecocert EU, Demeter EU)

Dominique Moreau has been making single varietal, single vineyard, single vintage, no dosage Champagnes from her tiny 2.5ha estate since 2005. The estate’s massale-selected vines include a single hillside vineyard of Pinot Noir, with a small amount of Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc, all planted by her father-in-law in the 1970’s. Dominique named the estate after her grandmother, Marie Courtin, who Dominique recalls as being “a strong woman of the earth.”

The Côte-de-Bars is Champagne's southernmost region, closer to Chablis than Reims, and has the same Kimmeridgian limestone as Chablis. The region's warmer temperatures and Kimmeridgian soils excel at making Pinot Noir that is rich and textured while retaining acidity and freshness.

Obtaining ripe, pristine fruit is incredibly important since Dominique’s wines are non-dosé — which means they don’t have the addition of sugar to round out hard edges or mask imbalances. This is why each parcel is farmed organically (certified since the 2005 vintage) and biodynamically (certified since the 2006 vintage). Dominique makes her own compost, plows, and focuses on de-budding in the spring in order to reduce the chances of rot, always a risk in this damp region. This combination of diligent vineyard work, low yields, clay-limestone soils and a southern exposure, gives these wines both power and precision, brimming with energy and lots of mineral intensity. The fruit is fermented with a yeast strain that was cultivated exclusively from her grapes during the 2003 harvest. These native yeasts are used for both primary and secondary fermentations.

The names of the wines carry spiritual significance for Dominique as well.

She recommends that her wines be served in traditional white wine glasses to allow for their development through increased aeration.