We couldn’t be more honoured to introduce the poised, exacting and incomparable champagnes of Salima & Alain Cordeuil to Ontario! As soon as we stepped on their small property Noé les Mallets, we knew we had found something special. Their impeccably farmed four hectares include six parcels, all sitting pretty in the southern Côte des Bar sub-region of Champagne. Closer to Chablis than Reims, the area’s banks are the highest in Champagne and can sit at up to 300 m above sea level, a unique and cooling difference. Kept organically (certified since 2015), they have been producing extremely low-intervention (think NO dosage, fining, filtering or sulphur!) Champagne from 30-55 year-old, low-yielding chardonnay and pinot noir vines since 2011, with an annual production today of 10,000 bottles. Cultivating the vineyard in their words, “like a garden”, they plow exclusively by horse, practice green composting (the composting of organic items rich in nitrogen and high in moisture), a rotation of regional cover crops, and light winter pruning which honours the vine’s natural cycle. FUN FACT! They have planted a small number of vines more recently which they are using to produce a saignée de rosé! The soils are classified by calcareous-clay, meaning they are a mix of crushed up and decayed shells/bones of sea creatures, rich in calcium carbonate (limestone) which neutralizes the acidity of clay – increasing soil fertility, and boasting an excellent balance between water retention and drainage! Another practice they implement is long lees aging, in their case meaning that for at least 4-5 years the wines are stashed away like a message in a bottle, allowing for every ounce of vintage character to be thoroughly amalgamated and represented in the final product. We cannot wait for you to try these uproariously expressive, spectacularly pure and gloriously rare champagnes. Welcome to the GW famille Salima and Alain!