Fallet Dart

Champagne Fallet Dart is a récoltant-manipulant at Drachy, on the edge of Charly-sur-Marne in the Aisne, at the western end of the Vallée de la Marne. The family traces its vignerons back to 1610 (Claude and Pierre Fallet are the earliest the records name), and the brand dates from 1970, when Gaston Fallet and Geneviève Dart, married in 1953, joined their surnames on the label. Brothers Daniel and Gérard Fallet joined in 1973 and 1975 and were co-managers until 2016, growing sales from 5,000 to 160,000 bottles a year between 1985 and 2016; their sons, the cousins Adrien (Gérard's son, cellar and winemaking, since January 2009) and Paul (Daniel's son, vineyards, sales and the team, since June 2009), run it now. The estate farms 18 ha across five communes around Charly-sur-Marne, planted 45% Meunier, 30% Chardonnay and 25% Pinot Noir on clay, chalk and sand, under what it calls viticulture raisonnée with HVE (Haute Valeur Environnementale) certification, all hand-harvested; part of the vineyard sits on the former Soissons bishopric land at Drachy, the lieu-dit Les Hauts des Clos du Mont, which supplies the prestige cuvée. Wines are vinified parcel by parcel in tank or French oak, with oak in play for most of the range, the Cuvée de Réserve kept entirely in steel and the Clos du Mont entirely in barrel; every non-vintage brut carries 30 to 50% reserve wine, ageing runs from a 36-month minimum to well over a decade for the Clos du Mont (the site says 13 years, the brochure up to 16), and each wine rests deliberately after disgorgement. The range is six cuvées, from the Cuvée de Réserve in brut and demi-sec to a rosé and the Clos du Mont; the house belongs to the Vignerons Indépendants.