The vineyard
The Marne valley hillsides.
The vineyard, of about 12 hectares, is located on the hills of the Marne valley, in Crouttes-sur-Marne and in bordering villages.
Grape varieties
Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris ...
- The Pinot Meunier is the main variety of grapes planted in our vineyard. It adds fruit flavor and softness to our blends. It is a variety of black grape but thanks to a gentle pressing, it will produce a white wine.
- Pinot Noir vines are cultivated in some plots. This variety of grapes requires soils adapted to its quick maturing. It gives strength and structure to our champagnes..
- The Chardonnay, the only white-skinned grape variety, is growing on a quarter of the vineyard. It gives liveliness and elegance to our cuvées.
- Finally, the Pinot Gris (also called Fromenteau), ), unusual in Champagne, was planted I remembrance of our founders, who appreciated it. Two small vines produce the “Cuvée des Fondateurs (Founders’ Cuvée).
The vines
Environmental friendly growing methods ...
We are growing our vines by respecting our soils. We use natural fertilizers: bark with manure and a little bit of organic fertilizer. The vines are protected against diseases in a well-reasoned manner. Soil working, green covering and grass-cutting are more and more used. Our gentle growing methods has been officially recognized. Champagne Dérot-Délugny got the certification "Haute Valeur Environnementale" (High Environment Value) and the quality label " Viticulture durable en Champagne" (Sustainable Vine-growing in Chamapgne).
We carry out the works in the vines ourselves with the help of three employees. Pruning is the longest task: it is the best moment to shape the vine stocks which will produce beautiful grapes properly spaced to ripen in the sun.
The harvest ...
We monitor the grapes ripening in the different plots by sampling and tasting, to harvest at the optimal time. The harvest is carried out by a team of twenty pickers. This manual picking allows to choose the healthy and ripe grapes.