René Jolly, Blanc de Noirs, Champagne NV

René Jolly is a family-owned independent winery established in 1737 in Landreville, in the southeastern part of the Champagne region, famous for its Pinot Noir. It grows all its own grapes from 14 hectares of vines – 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay – on Kimmeridgian soil, which gives the Champagne its unique identity, with deep fruit and mineral flavours.

No chemical fertilisers are used – the winery is now certified HVE, which means High Value for the Environment – and the grapes are harvested entirely by hand. The fruit from each vineyard and each year is kept separate, in order to be as precise as possible with the final blend. Fifteen percent is aged in wooden barrels, made from local oak. Bottles are aged for between three and nine years in 18^th-century vaulted cellars, and disgorged by hand, without the use of ice.

jollychamp.com