Louise Brison

Louise Brison was a woman with almost nothing who refused to give up a few ares of vines around 1900, at a time when growing grapes hardly paid. The house in Noé-les-Mallets, in the Côte des Bar, carries her name because of that stubbornness. Today it is run by her great-granddaughter, Delphine Brulez, an agronomist and oenologist who calls her own work a tribute to that "grande Dame".

The turn came in 1991, when Francis Brulez began making vintage Champagnes raised in oak barrels. That choice still shapes everything. The current range is built on single years: a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay called À l'Aube de la Côte des Bar, a Blanc de Blancs, a Pinot Noir and a macerated rosé.

The vineyards sit on south-south-east facing slopes at around 320 metres, on Kimmeridgian marl full of marine fossils. There is no chalk here, and the family likes to say their ground has more in common with Chablis than with Reims. Pinot Noir is the local tradition, but they admit a soft spot for Chardonnay. Merchants put the estate at about 15 hectares. After many years of careful farming, the conversion to organic began in 2017, and the wines have been certified organic from the 2020 vintage.

In the cellar the juice moves by gravity, and every wine is fermented and raised in oak for about nine months, each barrel tracked by parcel and variety. After the second fermentation the bottles age for at least five years. The house also keeps a library, Mémoire de la Côte des Bar, of vintages from 1997 to 2010, both the blend and a Blanc de Blancs, held back for years and released only when the family judges them ready.