Georges LavalCumières, Grande Vallée

Producer profile
PL One of Champagne's pioneering organic estates, Georges Laval has been certified organic since 1971, the year of the label's creation. "The most profound single-vineyard champagnes being made in Cumières today are those from the tiny estate of Georges Laval." Vincent Laval has been at the helm since 1996. "Laval owns a mere 2 hectares of certified organic vines in Cumières", producing "tiny quantities of exquisite champagne." Much of the estate is worked by horse. "Laval vinifies his wines in barrel with indigenous yeasts and a minimum of sulfur, and bottles them late, usually about ten months after the harvest. Virtually all his champagnes are released without dosage, and their ripe depth and vinous, terroir-driven intensity give them a rare harmony, complexity, and completeness." Les Chênes, a single-vineyard non-dose cuvée, from Laval's best chardonnay, was introduced in 1994. "Les Chênes is always very ripe, but it's also very chalky." Always a rich wine, it's capable of tremendous complexity, even as a brut nature. See PL page 150 for superb detail on the vintage variations of this wine, e.g. "it's difficult to imagine a more perfect Les Chênes than the sublime 2008, a wine of kaleidoscopic complexity and a nearly forceful expression of chalk, all wrapped in a silky, subtly refined package. It's an ideal intersection between a high-quality site, conscientious viticulture, and top-class winemaking, and it's as breathtaking a picture of terroir as you'll find anywhere in the wine world." Vincent "occasionally makes a Cumières Rosé, also as a brut nature, which is rare in Champagne. It can be either a saignée or a blended rosé, depending on how he feels, but it's always a wine of intense personality." The still "Cumières Rouge is thrilling for its chalky tension." Member of Terres et Vins de Champagne. TyS no mention. ToS 88 "small top producer from Cumières", "extremely natural and traditional" winemaking. "Natural yeasts are allowed to ferment the wines in old barrels, and no fining, filtration or cold-stabilizing takes place." "The style is of ripeness, richness and vinosity, becoming nutty over time. The whole range can be recommended, but due to the tiny volumes they are hard to find."

Tasting notes

Garennes Extra Brut. Disgorged July 11 2018, dosage 1g. Disastrous uncorking with a great loss of contents! The cork shot straight out of the bottle the moment the muselet was loosened. What was left tasted vinous, oaky, and sharply carbonated. Add to that a very slight nuance of pickle. Cute hare on the label (and it sure leapt!). Beautiful fat pink cork with 3 discs of natural cork (usually only 2) below the composite top. Purchased with Morin takeout in summer 2020 for $85.

Rosé Brut Nature. Disgorged February 1 2017. This resembles much more a rosé wine than a pink Champagne. At the opposite end of the spectrum from the ethereal Gosset Rosé and distantly resembling Vilmart's multi-faceted Rubis. Deeply garnet, richly fruited, not sweet but warmly aromatic, with a nectarous nose supported by a distinctive powdery base of chalk or tannins like a taut trampoline. A satisfying wine, heady and suffusive, albeit not overly complicated and a tiny bit Lambrusco. A festive nuance of wintertime mandarin orange at the end. Purchased at Molly's Spirits in summer 2020 for $110. ⭐