De Sousa

The De Sousa story begins after the First World War, when Manuel De Sousa - a Portuguese soldier from Braga posted to the French front - settled in Avize and married a local woman. His son Antoine married Zoémie Bonville, folding the family into an established Champenois grower dynasty, and effectively founded the house in 1950. Their son Erick took over in 1986 and, over the next three decades, built De Sousa into one of the reference biodynamic grower houses of the Côte des Blancs. Erick died on 4 January 2023; his three children - Charlotte (commercial), Julie (vineyards), Valentin (cellar) - have been officially at the helm since 2020.

Around 9.5 hectares in total: Grand Cru Côte des Blancs Chardonnay (Avize, Cramant, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger), plus Pinot Noir parcels in Aÿ and Ambonnay and a little Meunier in the Vallée de la Marne, roughly 60% Chardonnay / 30% Pinot Noir / 10% Meunier, average vine age over 45 years with old-vine parcels above 50. Biodynamic practice began in 1999; organic certification in 2010, Demeter in 2013 - among the earliest Grand Cru houses on the Côte des Blancs to carry both.

The range sits across an entry Brut / Extra Brut Tradition, a Réserve Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru, and the cuvées worth knowing by name. Cuvée 3A (Avize / Aÿ / Ambonnay, 50/25/25) is the three-Grand-Cru blend that gives the house its chord. Mycorhize, an Extra Brut multi-parcel old-vine Avize (centred on Les Hauts Nemery, ~2 hectares, vines 60-80 years old), barrel-fermented with a 25% perpetual reserve, and Cuvée des Caudalies (Grand Cru BdB from vines over 50 years old, fully barrel-fermented, released as vintage and as a solera-style NV, solera established 1995) are the prestige pair - both with a distinctly oxidative-friendly, lees-extended register. Umami is a 60% Chardonnay / 40% Pinot Noir low-dosage blend inspired by Erick's trip to Japan.

They sit in the top tier of biodynamic Champagne alongside Agrapart, Vouette et Sorbée, Laherte Frères and Larmandier-Bernier.