Champagne Diebolt-Vallois Tradition Brut à Cramant NV

The Champagne house Diebolt-Vallois is located in Cramant, the first 100% Grand Cru village you come to when you enter the Côte des Blancs from the direction of Epernay. But not to be mistaken with “Crémant”, which is a sparkling wine made with the same technique as Champagne, but from outside the Champagne region. The soil consists of a layer of light dirt over a chalk subsoil. Cramant’s  East-South-East facing slopes suit Chardonnay particularly well, and gives champagnes characteristics of fruit, power and rich texture. 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).

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. Diebolt-Vallois Champagnes are the progeny of a united family: Jacques Diebolt and Nadia Vallois, and their two children, Arnaud and Isabelle (who is married to Jean-Paul Hebrart, of Champagne Hebrart!), who began working at the estate in 1984. Although Jacques Diebolt started working with his grandfather in 1959, it was not until 1978 that the estate underwent construction of cellars, and then a winery. In 2000, Laurence, Arnaud's wife, joined the family business followed by the third generation: Ophélie, Philippine and Guillaume in 2016.

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.

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.