Champagne, Côte Des Blancs – Francia
If a winemaker plans a visit in Champagne, they will always have great expectations because it is one of the most precious and famous viticultural places in the world. During another one of my wine trips, we left from Reims a beautiful and elegant city, to arrive in Epernay in the heart of Côte des Blancs. Home to some of the most famous maison du Champagne, a city surrounded by vineyards, this is the undisputed capital of Champagne. Thanks to the recommendations of my friends, we visited the beautiful village of Cuis where lives one of the most charismatic vignerons of Cotê du Blancs; Benoit Munier.
Benoit is a wine producer with pride and pragmatism, authentic like his wine. He welcomed us into his home to taste some masterpieces, after which we accompanied him to one of his 33 vineyard plots that compose a varied puzzle of terroir of about 1.6 hectares. Vineyards with very low rows, managed with cordon system that have a very dense planting layout, about 7000/8000 plants per hectare. The vineyards are planted only on slopes, never in the valley as in the whole of Champagne. When you walk among the rows there is only a space for one person but the view is unique, you dominate all the vineyard until you get lost in the straight lines of the rows that seem to trace the hills without an end.
