Noé les Mallets, Côte des Bar,
Aube, Champagne
Meet Salima and Alain Cordeuil! These two lovebirds met in university in Montpelier - Alain studied psychology; Salima French literature.
A chance to take over some of Alain’s family’s vines interrupted their professional liberal arts aspirations, and the two returned to Alain’s home in Noé les Mallets to recuperate 4 hectares of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
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Who wouldn’t want to grow up here…and return. The hamlet of Noé les Mallets (just two towns over from Charles Dufour) is a unique little corner of the Côte des Bar - the finger ridges that fan across the region meet to form a cul-de-sac (like the horseshoe shape between your middle and ring finger), and the vineyards planted at the top are the highest in all of Champagne (the Cordeuils make two single-vineyard, mono-varietal cuvées to showcase this terroir - "Altitude” 320m and 350m). Soils are Portlandian limestone, so serious limestone akin to Chablis.
Imagine approaching viticulture from a psychology and French literature background - Salima and Alain see their vines more as a garden than a vineyard (and immediately converted them to organic farming). Today, native cover crops grow between the vines. They only plough under the vines (with horses), and they prune late. The result is a physiologically balanced vineyard that yields 40hl/ha - about one-third the allowed yield in Champagne.
They vinified their first vintage in 2011; the birth of their two children in 2012 and 2015 interrupted commercialisation in the best way and helped establish their philosophy in the cellar - patience; each of their cuvées age a minimum of 5 years.
Elevage takes place in different-sized neutral oak barrels that they pick up second-hand from their friends Champagne Legrand-Latour in the Marne and purchase from the local Tonnellerie de Champagne. They only make vintage Champagne, which see extended lees aging sur latte (like 4-8 years). The prise de mousse is kicked off with actual juice, not MCR (shh!).
and they never add dosage (Brut Nature!). They never add sulfites during fermentation, and they’ve been fully 0-0 since 2019.
“Les Origines” is their original wine; if you could drink Salima’s eloquent words, this is how it would taste: “Between the horizon’s linear axis and the vertical energy that pierces the visible space…the indescribable makes sense. In this old vine, we recognize our ancestor, and we stroll alongside clairvoyantly, such humble disciples. From there is born the “‘Origines’ cuvée.”
“Clair Obscur” is their other parcel blend, and they call their single-parcel Champagnes “Commelle Blet,” “Les Charmottes,” and “Altitude” 320m and 350m.
Salima likes to describe their wines as “airy” and “salty” - the most direct references to their high altitude, chalky terroir - and “patient;” indeed, their Champagnes drink like long novels; glowing moods more than quick climaxes.
