The Coquard vertical press in the cellar holds 2,000 kilograms. At
Champagne Georges Laval in Cumières stands the smallest press in the region: Vincent Laval, the winemaker, presses his grapes more gently than anyone else. The family has lived in the village since 1694 and today cultivates 2.5 hectares across seven plots. Each one bears a name: Les Chênes, Les Hautes Chèvres, Les Longues Violes. Certified organic since 1971, fermented with wild yeasts, aged in wood. 10,000 bottles a year, most of them without dosage.
The smallest press, the greatest patience
In the cellar at Cumières stands a machine that would long since have been scrapped elsewhere: a traditional
Coquard vertical press holding 2,000 kilograms. That is the legal minimum for Champagne cellars; in this region nobody is allowed to press in smaller lots. Vincent Laval kept it because it treats the fruit more gently than any modern pneumatic press. The grapes are crushed slowly and the must runs off without pressure. Everything then goes into used barrels, where wild yeasts take over. Ten months later the wine is bottled, without fining, filtration or cold stabilisation.
Sulphur levels are usually below 20 milligrams per litre. Anyone with a glass of the
Cumières Premier Cru Brut Nature LMC21 in magnum, with its taut citrus, green apple and the fine brioche note from long lees ageing, can taste what patience achieves.
330 years in seven parcels
The Laval family has lived in Cumières since 1694; old records note them as barons of the village. Today the vines cover
2.5 hectares of Premier Cru, spread across seven parcels with poetic names. In
Chênes (the oaks), Chardonnay grows on pure chalk, south-facing, mid-slope.
Hautes Chèvres (the high goats) yields
Pinot Meunier from vines planted in 1930 and 1971, ploughed with horses. Les Longues Violes, the "long path", carries Pinot Noir and Meunier from massal selection. The average vine age is
over 30 years, and the oldest have stood for more than seven decades.
10,000 bottles since the seventies
Annual production varies between 8,000 and 10,000 bottles, fewer than some cooperatives bottle in a single day. Georges Laval, the father, read an article in 1971 about pesticides found in Arctic ice: whatever drifted as far as the polar circle, he reasoned, had no place in his soils. He converted at a time when fewer than ten growers in Champagne were working organically. In Vertus, on the Côte des Blancs,
Larmandier-Bernier took the same decision at the same time, and today both houses are benchmarks for artisanal Champagne. Vincent has run the cellar since 1996 and the style has remained:
Brut Nature with no dosage, and ageing of 50 months or more for the single-vineyard cuvées.
On the south-facing slopes of the Marne
Cumières lies on the right bank of the Marne, a few kilometres north-west of Épernay. The south-facing slopes above the river are rated
Premier Cru for Pinot Noir, yet Vincent grows all three Champagne varieties: Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The blended cuvée Garennes combines base wines from up to ten years. The single-vineyard Champagnes carry the character of their parcels: Les Chênes mineral and taut, Les Hautes Chèvres with the rounded fruit of
Meunier, Les Longues Violes complex and long-lived. All are released without dosage, and all spend a long time on their lees. This is Champagne in which terroir matters more than the bubbles.
