Vilmart & Cie Champagne Grand Cellier Brut Premier Cru, Champagne, France NV

70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir Practicing Organic   View winemaker fact sheet Vilmart & Cie looks back at a long history of grape growing and winemaking. It was founded as récoltant manipulant house in 1890 by Désiré Vilmart, in the village of Rilly-la-Montagne. Today, Laurent Champs, the fifth generation of the family, oversees the domaine, located in the western end of the Grand Montagne. Most of the holdings here are in the Premier Cru of Rilly-La-Montagne with a few small blocks in neighboring Villers-Allerand. Laurent farms 10 parcels over 11 hectares, an anomaly as most estates have many small parcels. This allows Laurent to farm with organic methods; his father practiced biodynamic viticulture and Laurent continues in this vein.  Laurent ferments and ages all his wines in oak: large 2200–5500-liter foudre and demi-muid for the NV wines and smaller barrique as well as demi-muid for vintage wines. Malolactic fermentation is always blocked, giving the wines a crisp acidic str