Interview with Agathe Bellanger of Champagne Le Brun de Neuville

Agathe Bellanger, a champenoise from Sézanne, has been part of the Champagne Le Brun de Neuville team since 2019.

As the Sales Director and daughter of grape growers, Agathe brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her role. Under her guidance, Le Brun de Neuville presence has continued to thrive, celebrating the unique terroir of the Côte de Sézanne and the rise of champagne cooperatives.

I recently was lucky enough to enjoy a stunning lunch at Alma by Juan Amador in Singapore with Agathe to taste their new releases. Here are a few words of wisdom from Agathe Bellanger.

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Can you explain the terroir of the Côte de Sézanne and how it influences your wines?

The Côte de Sézanne has a unique terroir with more similarities to Montgueux than the Côte des Blancs. This is largely due to temperature differences. Our vines tend to ripen about one week to ten days earlier than those in the Côte des Blancs. The vineyards here were planted relatively recently, in the late 1950s and 1960s, as the appellation was not established before then. This terroir, with its distinct climate and soil composition, imparts a unique character to our wines, contributing to their freshness and complexity. I think our non vintage cuvée Côte embodies the style of the sub-region beautifully with Chardonnay sourced from 12 different villages, fermentation in stainless steel and no malolactic to retain freshness and a blend of 25 to 35% reserve wine dating back to 2008.

Can you tell us about the approach to organic vineyard management?

At Le Brun de Neuville, we have always prioritised sustainable vineyard practices. We are fortunate that there has always been a demand for ripe Chardonnay, and we strive to meet this demand without compromising the health of our vineyards. We are a cooperative of growers with over 150 ha of beautiful vines with a predominance of Chardonnay, a little Pinot (11%0 and less than 1% of Meunier. All our vine growers are encouraged to adopt sustainable viticulture practices, and we favour grapes from organic vineyards, grown without any herbicides, ​ploughed and certified “Haute Valeur Environnementale” (HVE) or “Viticulture Durable en Champagne” (VDC). The Côte de Sézanne area historically has more sunshine, riper fruit, and less pressure to provide high yeilds, which means our lands have stayed much more pure than some others with less treatments.

What are your thoughts on the forgotten grapes of Champagne?

We have a deep respect for the forgotten grapes of Champagne. In 2016, two of our growers planted Arbane, and we've also seen the planting of Pinot Blanc. Although these grapes are declared in the pressing and vineyard documents, they are not required on labels and typically make up no more than 2% of our blends. While there is no project to create a single varietal cuvée, we are considering blending them with Chardonnay or Pinot Noir for a unique blend. Currently, we have an experimental cuvée with four grapes aging in oak, and we're excited to see how it evolves.

How do you feel about the changing tastes in Champagne and the trend towards lower dosage?

There's a noticeable trend towards lower dosage in Champagne, but our primary goal remains finding the right balance for each wine. With each disgorgement, we trial various levels and types of dosage to determine which best allows the wine to express its terroir. Dosage should highlight the final blend, serving as the icing on the cake. We’ve sometimes found this balance with brut nature or extra brut. Our approach is always to let the wine's natural characteristics shine through.

What can we expect from Champagne Le Brun de Neuville in the future?

We have recently started releasing some very small batch wines which we believe are a great embodiment of our terroir with a little some more pronounced secondary and tertiary notes. These are oenothèque wines, like the magnum we have tasted today which has spent 17 years on lees, as well as Le chant des fûts, a micro cuvée based on the 2019 vintage which has been aged 100% 205L or demi-muid barrels for 20 months, and then matured under cork. These kinds of wines show the potential of the region's wines to shine through different lenses. Looking ahead, we plan to continue our commitment to quality and sustainability. We aim to increase the biodiversity in our vineyards and explore more with the use of controlled micro-oxygenation and potentially the lesser known grapes which are becoming more popular in our region.

Our focus will remain on producing wines that truly reflect the unique terroir of the Côte de Sézanne. We are also excited about the potential of our experimental cuvées and look forward to sharing these innovations with our customers.

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