Champagne Louise Brison

Above all, Louise Brison is a family story of technical know-how and human relations over 4 generations. In 1910, Louise Brison eked out a living on a few acres of vines at a time when winemaking was not very lucrative. Thanks to her tenacity, the future generations were able to continue her work and the estate took on a new direction in 1977 with Francis BRULEZ, who began producing vintage Champagnes aged in oak barrels. His daughter Delphine BRULEZ carries on the family tradition, building her bridge between the past and the future.
The terroir of Aube is unique. It was created from a special climate with a strong influence from the plateau of Langres (dry and cold), and a soil made up of a calcareous clay bedrock of limestone marl. The soil is closer to Chablis than Reims – you won’t find any chalk here! Delphine makes her champagnes from her family’s 15HA of vines, planted 70% Pinot Noir, and 30% Chardonnay. The vineyards are on a south-south-east exposure, at and average elevation of 280m (upto 320). All vineyards are under organic viticulture since 2012 (certification is started in 2017) and there are no chemicals or pesticides / insecticides applied to allow the natural biodiversity to flourish.
Unique to Champagne and not at all used in Chablis, the vines are trained in “Chablis Guyot” system which keeps an extra baguette for protection against problems of rot or mildew. Yields are controlled by short-pruning, weeds are managed by tilling the soils, each alternating row is planted with legumes crop covers in Autum to add nutrition to the soils, and organic compost is applied to the soils when necessary in the Spring to develop the networks of mycorhizes. During vintage, a small team manually harvests the grapes over 15 days and each plot is pressed individually with either the classic Coquard champagne basket-press, or more recently the pneumatic Bucher press under the Orias Champagne tailored-press cycle. In order to obtain an even finer differentiation of the musts, the estate practices 4 pressings instead of the usual 3 common in Champagne. Wines are then aged in barrique.
Louise Brison produces a range of 3 low dosage (extra-brut) champagnes: a Chardonnay/ Pinot noir blend, a blanc de blanc, and a rosé champagne (made from 100% Pinot noir in rosé de saignée). All the champagnes are vintage and disgorged after a minimum of 5 years of ageing.