Champagne Gatinois in Aÿ
Champagne Gatinois is based in the old village of Aÿ in the Champagne region of France. The family history in Aÿ traces the house back to the marriage of Nicolas Le Cacheur and Françoise Remy in 1696; afterwards, twelve generations were established in Aÿ. The name Gatinois appeared on the bottles in 1921. Louis Cheval took over the management in 2010.
Vineyard sites and grape varieties
The family vineyards are located in Aÿ Grand Cru on the slopes above the village and are spread across named sites such as Chaufour, Cheuzelle, La Croix Courcelles, Le Han, Valnon, Vauregnier, Chatillon and Bonotte. The terroir is described by the house as a balance of chalk and clay. The vineyards are farmed predominantly by hand, sustainably and responsibly; the grapes are hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard.
The Champagnes are made exclusively from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the family-owned vineyards. Pinot Noir dominates in Aÿ and provides structure and volume, while Chardonnay adds tension and freshness.
Champagnes and production
As a Récoltant-Manipulant, Champagne Gatinois controls production from the vineyard to the bottle. The Brut Réserve is a non-vintage Champagne made up of 80 percent Pinot Noir and 20 percent Chardonnay. It bears the designation 100 % Aÿ Grand Cru and is dosed at 7 g/l.
The grapes are slowly and manually pressed in a traditional vertical Dollat press dating from 1984. The musts are vinified in small containers and transferred several times before bottling. The bottles age on the lees in the cellar, are individually riddled and disgorged by hand using the traditional method à la volée. Before disgorging, the Brut Réserve is stored for three years horizontally on riddling racks.
Aÿ-Rouge
The Aÿ-Rouge Coteaux Champenois comes from old Pinot Noir plots on chalky soils. Its production includes slow maceration fermentation and fermentation at low temperature, manual punching down or pumping over, as well as 18 months’ maturation in cask.
