Etienne Calsac, Champagne Grand Cru Clos des Maladries 2019

100% Chardonnay Organic Champagne, France From the importer- Clos des Maladries is a Grand Cru clos located in the village of Avize. The clos itself is quite small, at only 0.16 ha. It's named after a Maladries, a middle age hospital where contagious patients were kept, that was located on the site hundreds of years ago. The vines were planted in the early 1970s by Etienne's grandfather. The soil here is virtually pure chalk and is composed of a particularly prized type of chalk known as Belemnite, which thought to impart greater minerality and acidity to grapes grown in it. The exposure is due south and the walls of the clos also retain heat which aid in ripening. The vineyard is planted at a high density, farmed without any chemical inputs, and is plowed by horse. After harvesting with manual sorting in the vineyard, the grapes are pressed (for this cuvee Etienne keeps both the cuvee and the taille as an homage to the old way of making Champagne where the full press cycle was used).