Cl. de la Chapelle

Cl. de la Chapelle was founded in 1948 when five vigneron families from Villedommange joined forces to rebuild their terroir after the Second World War. Today the same cooperative, now in its fourth and fifth generation, brings together 23 members farming around 25 hectares in one of Champagne's most distinctive corners.

Villedommange is a Premier Cru village in the Petite Montagne de Reims, the northwestern sector of the Montagne, with northeast-facing slopes on loamy sandy soils over a chalk subsoil. The defining feature of the terroir — and the house style — is the dominance of Pinot Meunier: the variety accounts for around 55% of the blends, followed by Pinot Noir (30%) and Chardonnay (15%). This proportion, faithful to the village's own planting, produces wines of silky texture, generous fruit and persistent freshness, with the mineral elegance characteristic of the Petite Montagne rather than the dense structure of the Grande.

Non-vintage wines age a minimum of three years in the cellar; vintages a minimum of nine. The range includes the Instinct — the Premier Cru cuvée that best expresses the terroir as a whole — the Pur Extra Brut without dosage, several vintage releases for longer ageing and the Exquis Brut. The cooperative holds HVE level 3 certification (Haute Valeur Environnementale) and VDC (Viticulture Durable en Champagne), reflecting over twenty years of reasoned viticulture. The Instinct has received gold medals at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and Gilbert & Gaillard.