DOMAINE DE MARZILLY - CHAMPAGNE ULLENS
Maxime & Anna Ullens de Schooten
Domaine de Marzilly is quite a unique story, born from the fascinating meeting between a historical site of Champagne, the Château de Marzilly, and a young Belgian winemaker, Maxime Ullens de Schooten. The relationship began in 2012, when Maxime, an architect in Brussels, was in charge of restoring the Château de Marzilly, a castle located near the city of Hermonville, in the Massif de Saint-Thierry (10 km north of Reims), the northern limit of the appellation Champagne.
Maxime fell in love with the area and decided to buy the castle, supported by his wife, Anna. With the help of Lydia and Claude Bourguignon, they discovered some ungrafted vine rootstocks around the castle sparred from phylloxera thanks to the special sandy soil of Marzilly.
Initially not included in the Champagne appellation set in 1936, this discovery gave Maxime the bright idea to unveil this under-the-radar terroir by making from scratch his own Champagne – a very rare path in this region.
Domaine de Marzilly is quite a unique story, born from the fascinating meeting between a historical site of Champagne, the Château de Marzilly, and a young Belgian winemaker, Maxime Ullens de Schooten. The relationship began in 2012, when Maxime, an architect in Brussels, was in charge of restoring the Château de Marzilly, a castle located near the city of Hermonville, in the Massif de Saint-Thierry (10 km north of Reims), the northern limit of the appellation Champagne.
Maxime fell in love with the area and decided to buy the castle, supported by his wife, Anna. With the help of Lydia and Claude Bourguignon, they discovered some ungrafted vine rootstocks around the castle sparred from phylloxera thanks to the special sandy soil of Marzilly.
Initially not included in the Champagne appellation set in 1936, this discovery gave Maxime the bright idea to unveil this under-the-radar terroir by making from scratch his own Champagne – a very rare path in this region.
To do so, Anna and Maxime decided to rent some vineyards (4ha) near the castle, giving birth to their first vintage in 2016.The production is still confidential and limited to 30,000 bottles per year, all crafted by the duo.
The vineyard is worked organically, and a detailed attention is put on each stage of the vine growing: pruning, soil ploughing, cover crop, yield management… since the beginning, Maxime is focusing on a single plot approach, each terroir delivering one specific Champagne. A Burgundy wise approach supported by his cellar work.
Maxime is fully in charge of the vinification, taking each decision all along the winemaking process. One can say his approach is already very precise and thoughtful. The must is pressed in the traditional vertical press of Champagne, called "Coquard". The alcoholic fermentation (100% indigenous yeasts) fully takes place into 205L oak barrels (traditional size in Champagne), and the must is racked by gravity without any pump. Maxime aims to give attention to each detail, even the wood for the barrels is of his choice: each year, some old oaks are chosen and cut in the woods of the Château de Marzilly. A vinous approach that brings a lot of character and a "wine" profile to the Champagne Ullens.
The cuvées are aged 36 months in bottles (on lattes) with manual riddling: an extended maturation period enhancing aromatic complexity, autolysis and bubble integration (lower pressure). Another originality of Domaine de Marzilly lies in the high dedication to Pinot Meunier, a grape that is often considered a blend complement to Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. A black grape seen as aromatic, open-knit and super fruity at first glance, but which is much more than this, showing a lot of texture, balance and complexity when carefully grown and vinified.
Anna and Maxime deliberately limit their production to two single cuvées:
- The flagship cuvée, "Brut NV", is a blend of 80% Pinot Meunier and 20% Chardonnay with a ~ 4g/L dosage. A lively, textural, racy Champagne with a vinous profile balanced by subtle bubbles.
- LPM ("La Petite Montagne") is a 100% Pinot Meunier from lieu-dit "Marzilly", the micro-plot of the Domaine where all is done by hand. An impressive Champagne, revealing Meunier as rarely before, aged 11 months in barrel and then 36 months in bottle, with a 2.4 g/L dosage. Like Brut NV, a lively Champagne with integrated bubbles underlined by an extra layer of concentration with green apple, brioche and stone fruits aromas.
The cuvées are aged 36 months in bottles (on lattes) with manual riddling: an extended maturation period enhancing aromatic complexity, autolysis and bubble integration (lower pressure). Another originality of Domaine de Marzilly lies in the high dedication to Pinot Meunier, a grape that is often considered a blend complement to Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. A black grape seen as aromatic, open-knit and super fruity at first glance, but which is much more than this, showing a lot of texture, balance and complexity when carefully grown and vinified.
Anna and Maxime deliberately limit their production to two single cuvées:
- The flagship cuvée, "Brut NV", is a blend of 80% Pinot Meunier and 20% Chardonnay with a ~ 4g/L dosage. A lively, textural, racy Champagne with a vinous profile balanced by subtle bubbles.
- LPM ("La Petite Montagne") is a 100% Pinot Meunier from lieu-dit "Marzilly", the micro-plot of the Domaine where all is done by hand. An impressive Champagne, revealing Meunier as rarely before, aged 11 months in barrel and then 36 months in bottle, with a 2.4 g/L dosage. Like Brut NV, a lively Champagne with integrated bubbles underlined by an extra layer of concentration with green apple, brioche and stone fruits aromas.
REGION OF PRODUCTION
Champagne - France
APPELLATION
Champagne (Montagne de Reims)
FOUNDED
2016
VINEYARD
4 ha
CLIMATE
Warm and temperate
SOIL COMPOSITION
Sandy soil
VARIETIES GROWN
Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay
AGRICULTURE
Organic Conversion