Cuvée Mycorhize Grand Cru Extra Brut 2020

A Chardonnay Champagne that carries both density and finesse. Golden in the glass, intense and layered on the nose with toasted and nutty notes, honey and ripe apple over a smoky minerality. Power that never raises its voice.

Avize in the Côte des Blancs, one of Champagne's grand cru villages. De Sousa farms 9.5 hectares there according to biodynamic principles, with further grand cru plots in Cramant, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. The vines for this cuvée grow on chalky soils and are over 60 years old; their plots are worked exclusively with horses, meaning less soil compaction and stronger root growth. This is also what the name refers to: mycorrhiza, the symbiosis between fungi and plant roots.

Pure Chardonnay from the 2020 vintage. The base wine was aged in oak barrels, for De Sousa a matter of texture and depth rather than oak flavour. After extended lees ageing in cellars cut into the chalk, kept at a constant 10 °C, disgorgement took place in November 2025. The dosage is 3 grams of residual sugar, placing it at the lower end of Extra Brut. 13.0% ABV, dry.

Silky, layered texture with wonderful balance, showing notes of ripe apple, mirabelle plums, honey and toasted nuts. Mineral, taut, precise. The juicy finish reveals a subtly bitter and saline twist that further heightens the complexity.

The house in Avize has farmed organically since the late 1990s, Demeter-certified since 2013, long before organic viticulture became a topic in Champagne. Today Charlotte, Valentin and Julie De Sousa run the estate according to the credo of their predecessor Erick: great Champagnes are made in the vineyard, not in the cellar. The Demeter logo appears on the label.