Ratafia L'Exaltant

L'Exaltant is the ratafia of Mouzon Leroux, the Verzy family who have grown vines there, father to son, since 1776 by their own account. A ratafia is a liqueur rather than a wine: fresh grape must held back from fermenting with spirit, here a mix of alcohol and fine de Champagne, a brandy distilled from Champagne wine. Leon & Son, a US merchant, lists no alcoholic fermentation and no added sugar, so the sweetness is the grape's own.

The fruit is all Pinot Noir from the family's vines in Verzy, on the Montagne de Reims, in clay and limestone over flint. Sébastien Mouzon, who joined the estate in 2001, has farmed them biodynamically since 2008, with trees, shrubs and herbs planted among the rows.

The house calls it a "ratafia de saignée", as it calls its rosé Champagne L'incandescent a "rosé de saignée", and the must takes its colour from time on the skins. Leon & Son puts that maceration at 24 hours.

The 2021 harvest then spent 28 months in barrel and went to bottle without filtration or fining. The run came to 1,526 bottles.

Exaltant, as the house glosses it: qui stimule, qui enthousiasme, qui passionne.