Champagne Gabriel Merreaux

Dear Customer,

Champagne Gabriel MERREAUX has been passing on its values and expertise for over 70 years now, over the generations, to offer you a champagne of exceptional quality.

My name is Christine, and as the great granddaughter of the House, and I aim to perpetuate the family tradition in the same vein.

We are committed to respecting the environment on a daily basis, and in recognition, we have recently been awarded “Viticulture Durable en Champagne” (sustainable viticulture in Champagne) and “High Environmental Value” certification.

We would be delighted to welcome you here on the Estate. To appreciate the fruit of our labour, come and visiting our facility and taste our champagne.

We would be very proud to count you among our customers.

A family history

We have been passing on our values and expertise for over 70 years now, to offer you a champagne of exceptional quality.

Our MERREAUX adventure began in 1949.

Expertise and a great love of vines have been passed down from my great grandfather, to my grandfather and grandmother, and now to me, Christine, and my husband Paul.

In this spirit of continuity, I, the great granddaughter of the House, maintain the traditions.

Although our house is firmly rooted in family tradition, we also keep up to date with the latest technological, economic and environmental developments.

It is in this spirit that we work the land with the help of the best champagne professionals.

Our vineyard

All our vineyards and buildings are in the Montagne de Reims area, in Nogent L’Abbesse, which combines the villages of Nogent L’Abbesse, Cernay-lès-Reims and Berru, at the foot of the Mont de Berru.

Nogent L’Abbesse is a little French village in the Marne department, 10 km from Reims, surrounded by prestigious vines and prosperous farmland.

Our vineyard covers an area of about 4 hectares and is planted entirely with Chardonnay. It was first planted by my great grandfather, Henri.

The terroir is a deep layer of chalk, which brings out the Chardonnay’s wonderful flavours.

Our house makes a point of harvesting only the best quality grapes to produce an exceptional champagne.

Making the champagne

Respect for the environment, Respect for traditions, Respect for the specifications, Territory, Human values: these are the guidelines which have underscored the production of our champagne in the village cooperative.

The Nogent L’Abbesse cooperative was created in 1961 with its first harvests.

Since then the wine growers in the Mont de Berru area have continued to unite their skills and the Champagne traditions to produce a champagne full of character. Our organisation is both modern and traditional, we respect human values and the environment, and have a serious quality policy, enabling our cooperative to produce an excellent wine.

Pressing

The grapes are harvested by hand when they reach full maturity, between late August and mid-September, depending on the years.

It takes 4,000 kg of grapes to make 2,550 litres of juice.

Our champagnes are made exclusively from the first press (about 2,000 litres) known as the “cuvée”. The first fermentation is in vats. Once finished, the juices are racked to separate the clear wines from the deposit at the bottom of the vat.

Blending

Champagne is a blended wine. Throughout the vinification process, the oenologist works with us, the wine growers, to taste the wines and choose which terroirs, grapes and vintages from the Mont de Berru to blend to obtain a consistently high-quality product.

Bottling

In spring according to the harvest, we proceed to bottling, it’s the racking ! We add drawn-off liquid (sugar and yeast) to each bottle, so that the second alcohol fermentation happens in the bottle. The champagne is born.

Ageing

After bottling the wine ages for at least 15 months in the cellars before we are allowed to sell our champagne.

But time is our friend. Ageing varies from 24 months to over 60 months for vintage champagnes.

This ageing period will add more complexity and finesse to the wines.
After ageing, the bottles will be moved from a horizontal to a vertical position to bring the yeast deposit up to the neck. This is what we call riddling, which can be done manually or by machine. It is very important for the next step.

Disgorgement

Disgorgement
This is the last step before the champagne goes on the market.
Disgorgement consists in opening the bottles and expelling the yeast deposit lodged in the necks.
The bottles are placed head down in a cooling tank (-25°C), which freezes the deposit. The deposit is then expelled when the bottle is opened at a pressure of about 6 bars.
Each bottle will receive a “liqueur d’expédition”, which determines the sugar content of our Brut and Demi-Sec.
The final step in the process is corking with the addition of a wire to keep the cork in place.