Bubbly Before Noon: Champagne LAUNOIS Père et Fils

Cuvée Dorine: Look at those dainty bubbles!

On my first full day in Champagne country, the first stop was to cult maker Champagne LAUNOIS Père et Fils. Despite it being a small house, LAUNOIS wines are much sought after and hard to get stateside. As Gary Westby, Champagne buyer for K&L Wine Merchants, told me: "I had to work on these guys for over a year before I could get them to sell me anything!" So, of course I had to arrange a visit.

Champagne LAUNOIS Père et Fils is located south of Reims in the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger, in the Côte de Blancs region of Champagne. Grand Cru is the highest designation granted to a village in Champagne by the Échelle des Crus, signifying top quality. So if you’re born into ownership or manage to get your hands on any Grand Cru plots, you’re in luck!

There are three major regions in Champagne:

• Montagne de Reims - in the north known for Pinot Noir
• Vallée de la Marne - in the middle for Pinot Meunier
• Côte des Blancs - to the south for Chardonnay (easy to remember: Chardonnay is a white grape, hence Blancs!)

Many of the Champagnes made from 100% Chardonnay - called “blanc de blancs” or literally “white of whites” - are from the Côte des Blancs so it was thrilling to be there! On the hills of the little villages we drove through, Champagne houses crowded right up against each other, one after the other. It was definitely Champagne-land.

I noticed many of the houses sported the same surnames. It was confusing, but upon closer examination the given names or house names were slightly different. Take for instance:

• Champagne LAUNOIS Père et Fils
• Champagne BONNET-LAUNOIS
• Champagne Jean-Pierre LAUNOIS 

… and they’re all in the same village of Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger, which means you could basically throw a Champagne cork from one house and hit the other.

This underscores the familial nature of the Champagne - and indeed of the wine - industry: it is a family-oriented business, and members can and often do branch out to start their own houses.

(Oh, and if you hadn't noticed already, the French seem to prefer capitalizing all the letters in their surnames. I noticed this first in email correspondence when arranging my visits: “... Dans l’attente de votre confirmation, Mélanie BERROT” - I wondered if I should sign off with “Susan LIN” but that still seems odd to me!)

Champagne LAUNOIS Père et Fils is the “big daddy” of the village. It is a small producer, even compared to Champagne Thiénot, but is the largest in the area. Many smaller houses in the area pay to use their machines and facilities. Real estate is certainly limited!

The man behind the house, Pierre Launois (I considered all caps but resisted!), was quite the eccentric collector. The house has the oddest museum I’ve ever toured; it consists of old and new caves joined up with random displays of everything from freaky anthropomorphic figures carved into vine roots to old disgorgement machines, a giant muselet (the wire cage that covers the cork), a 16th century Burgundian wine press that weighs two tons and required Mr. Launois to build a structure around it to house it (thus incurring the displeasure of his parents) … and more randomness.

Hanging out beneath the Giant Muselet in LAUNOIS' unique museum

Aurore, a fresh-faced young lady who has worked for LAUNOIS for 3 years, gave the tour. When we’d arrived, nearly 20 minutes late for our appointment (the result of jet lag and being caught behind slow trucks and enjambeurs) I introduced myself and asked to catch up to the tour since we were late. She’d responded that there was no rush; we (two people) *were* the tour! Ha!

It turned out that on the weekends, busloads of Belgians and sometimes Americans or Canadians come to visit, but on a drizzly, gray Wednesday? Just us chickens! It was a wonderful, personalized visit.

At the end of the tour, Aurore took us to a rustic little sitting room and prepared four Champagnes for us to taste. I admit to feeling a frisson, to be tasting Champagne before noon!

The first thing I noticed was that the bubbles were remarkably fine. They surged with vigor in the glass but were oh so dainty. For me, this became a visual characterization of Champagne; I’ve recalled seeing sparkling wines from other areas whoosh through the glass with big, robust bubbles. Apparently the longer the aging, the finer the bubbles.

Champagnes tasted (I confess to not having very good notes on this one):

• Cuvée Reserve - Blanc de blancs from 2008 harvest and 10% 2007 reserve wine aged three years on the lees (i.e. in the bottle without filtering out the yeast and other sediment), this is their all-purpose Brut that can be enjoyed at any time. A bit nutty and round, but still very delicate. Gary described it as: “... all Grand Cru from the villages of Mesnil, Oger, Cramant and Avize - a roll call of the finest crus for Chardonnay in all of Champagne...”

• Veuve Clémence - Blanc de blancs, with four years aging on the lees. This one was more dry than the Reserve, with yellow fruit and some white pepper spiciness - this one will wake you up! Sushi or other fishy seafood, methinks. 

• Dorine - Blanc de blancs, 1 year in oak. It was a beautiful amber color and lightly fruity but an unmistakable backbone. Seems like the little girl it was named for! I felt like cheese with this one. 

• Rose Valentine - 100% Pinot Noir. Fruity with a long finish, lightly perfumed and delicate. Again, named for a cute little girl!  

The Rose Valentine was Aurore’s favorite, but I liked Veuve Clémence even better. I usually prefer wines that are less sweet and have never been one for super fruity and delicate, but don’t get me wrong: none of these Champagnes were sickly sweet in any way. They were all nicely balanced but with different character.

In the coming days, I would come to notice and appreciate this emphasis on character in each cuvée, at the small houses. There is a real respect for the land the grapes are grown in, and a desire to bring out the best of the flavors it has to offer.

Even though Champagne LAUNOIS was started by a man and named ‘Father and Sons’, it's clear that the house is run by the women in the family. Just check out the names of the Champagnes above. You go, girls!