France | Champagne | Laherte Freres

Laherte Freres

Summary

The Laherte family has a long history in the region. Founded in 1889 by Jean-Baptiste Laherte, the estate was originally made up of vines primarily in the village of Chavot. Fourth generation vigneron Michel Laherte expanded the family estate which then covered about five hectares. With his wife Cécile, the two young vignerons modernized the press and tanks, but soon realized that too much modernity such as the use of herbicides and pesticides would prevent full terroir expression in the wines. They began working the soils, gently vinifying the juices, and remaining humble and patient as the wines developed. This philosophy is the foundation of the estate and has endured through the generations.

Since Aurélien Laherte who took over in 2005, the estate has become one of the most progressive and dynamic "rising stars" in the appellation. Like many of Champagne's top producers, Laherte began producing a series of tiny production, single-vineyard/single vintage cuvees (around 3000 bottles ea) from some of their most unique and expressive Biodynamically-farmed parcels. These wines are all vinified in used Burgundy barrels, without malolactic fermentations, and are bottled without fining and filtration. They are then finished with little or no dosage so as to not mask the individuality of the underlying terroirs.

The Laherte vineyards are situated largely in the Coteaux Sud D'Epernay, an interesting sub-region sandwiched between the Cotes des Blancs and the Vallee de la Marne, with pockets of soils that greatly resemble these two fine and geologically diverse regions. The vineyards themselves total 10.5 hectares (over 75 separate parcels), seven of which are farmed biodynamically and certified organic, with the rest farmed uncertified organic.