Champagne Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut NV

he champagne house Diebolt-Vallois is located in Cramant, a village in the "Côte des Blancs”; not to be mistaken with “Crémant”, which is a sparkling wine made with the same technique as Champagne, but from outside the Champagne region. Cramant’s chalky soil makes the perfect home for chardonnay vines. It is certainly one of the finest terroirs in the Champagne region and is the realm of "blanc de blancs" champagnes (champagnes made from white grapes).

Diebolt-Vallois champagnes are the progeny of a united family: Jacques Diebolt and Nadia Vallois, and their two children, Arnaud and Isabelle, who are taking an ever increasingly active part in the running of the estate. The Diebolt family has lived in Cramant since the end of the 19th century, and the Vallois family has been cultivating vines in Cuis since the 15th Century. Although Jacques Diebolt started working with his grandfather, it was not until 1978 that the estate underwent construction of cellars, and then a winery.

The Diebolt-Vallois champagne vineyards cover 11 hectares (26 acres) of which the great majority are in the villages of (Grand Cru) Cramant and (Premier Cru) Cuis. Other plots are in Chouilly (another Grand Cru village) and on the hillsides at Epernay (vineyards called Les Toulettes and Les Hautes Justices). All of these are planted entirely in Chardonnay, the grape used to make blanc de blancs champagne. Some vines on the Montagne de Reims and the Côte de Bar complete the estate's holdings, and these are planted in Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

Cramant is the first 100% Grand Cru village you come to when you enter the Cote des Blancs from the direction of Epernay. The soil consists of a layer of light dirt over a chalk subsoil. The East-South-East facing slopes suit Chardonnay particularly well, and it gives champagnes characteristics of fruit, power and rich texture.

The village of Cuis is next door to Cramant. Depending upon the plots they are growing in, the estates' vines benefit from chalky slopes that face either North-West or fully South. Their grapes bring minerality and delicacy with good acidity.