A familly affair.
A Champagne pinky-dip to give the newest born its fist taste: Baptized!
Established on the site of the former abbey of Saint-Sauveur, the family vineyard has been run for four generations, almost a thousand years old, in the municipalities of Vertus and Congy.
In the 11th century, the Vertus region was the domain of the Counts of Champagne. Thibault I founded two abbeys, Saint-Martin and Saint-Sauveur. The Saint-Sauveur Abbey was owned by the monks who devoted themselves to prayer and work, particularly that of the vineyard, following the rule of St Benoit “Ora et labora“.
During the revolution the monks were expelled from the Abbey and in 1793 it was sold as national property. The church was destroyed, only the abbey church escaped destruction. A very tormented history….. inscribed in that of France.
In 1886, our great great grandfather Thomas Charles, known as Edmond, bought Saint-Sauveur from a certain Prin d’Origny. Then onfronted with the phylloxera crisis between 1889 and 1890, he rebuilt the destroyed vineyard by initiating the “modern” viticulture, with grafted plants, stakes and wires.
From this all this past remains a cellar, a 1.5 hectare vineyard, a park (the monks’ cemetery for 800 years) and a part of the buildings of the estate which remained as the monks had left it at the French Revolution.
There’s that secret attic, the family keeps low-key and unused. It’s a true Doyle’s Baskerville set. My great great grand mother hand-painted the sky ceilings.
The two main crops of the estate are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. A smaller batch of Pinot Meunier is also produced for the final blend.
The humidity, light and olfactory experience is a trip.
As you climb down the narrow stairs on two underground levels, you dive into time. Yet the rows of bottles and the industrial equipment pulls you back to business reality from this senses-awakening place. To me, it feels extra emotional since my grand mother and ancestors lived and worked there.
In 2012 & 2014, I worked for the “vendanges” (harvests) and realized the hell of a job that is!!
The social mix and gains from it are real: compare it to boyscouts or military sevrice. I met people I would have never have the chance to meet and learned a lot from the daily routine struggle and discussions we had.
Each year approx. 30 people hand-pick the grapes for a best possible harvesting. 10 to 15 days full-on, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is a very rich experience on many levels, and I’ll pass on the part of discovering parts of your body you didn’t know could hurt!
Note that this hand-harvesting method is not mendatory but used for the best yields as machinery have still does not out-performs the agility of human hands.
Resources:
https://champagne-st-sauveur.fr/vinification.html
https://www.facebook.com/Champagne-Saint-Sauveur-563843360383551/
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