The Champagne region, renowned as the birthplace of the exquisite homonym sparkling wine, has a rich history marred by bloody battles, military conflicts, and unimaginable cruelties. From the Catalaunian Plains Battle in 451 AD, where Attila The Hun was famously defeated by the alliance of Roman general Flavius Aetius and Visigothic king Theodoric I, to the horrors of the 100 and 30 Years wars, and culminating in the devastation of the Great War and the tense surrender/costly liberation during the Second World War, the Champagne region and its inhabitants endured profound suffering and loss.
Amidst the chaos of war, while men were engaged in combat, women in the region had to assume important responsibilities within their families. The remarkable resilience of women in Champagne is well-documented, from iconic figures such as Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin-Clicquot, Lily Bollinger, and Louise Pommery, known as the famous Champagne widows (“veuve” in French) who led some of the most prestigious Champagne houses, to contemporary female vignerons. One such ground-breaker is Marie-Noelle Ledru, who courageously entered the traditionally male-dominated world of winemaking. In 1984, upon her parents’ retirement, Marie-Noelle, a civil servant, took over the family estate, initially comprising 6 hectares but later reduced to 2.5 hectares due to family disputes. Regarded as the Queen of Ambonnay, a renowned Grand Cru village in Montagne de Reims, Marie-Noelle made history with her dedication and passion.
Sadly, Marie-Noelle retired in 2017, marking the 2016 vintage as her final creation. This brief glimpse into the extraordinary event held in Switzerland, organized by Dominik Betschart, provided a unique opportunity for us to taste these remarkable cuvées.
This amazing tasting-dinner was organized in collaboration with the fantastic Hotel Glacier Boutique in Grindelwald. The hotel’s restaurant proposed some exquisite dishes to pair with the amazing champagne flights.
Let’s have a look at the producing method of Marie-Noelle Ledru champagne : the wines are all classically vinified in stainless steel tanks with no oak maturation and spontaneous malo-lactic fermentation. Yields are low, chaptalization is avoided, no filtration, no cold stabilisation, dosages are all low and minimal amounts of sulphur are used during the appropriate wine making processes. Bottles are disgorged by hand. The entire wine making process is manual and labour intensive, using no insecticides and no herbicides, and if treatments are necessary, only environment friendly options are considered. Her wine producing philosophy is to let the nature express, the terroir is the focal point in all the cuvées. The ´Ledru style´ focuses on purity, complexity, power and yet all of this is enclosed in an elegant framework.
It’s a very difficult task to write about each of the tasted cuvée on an event of such magnitude. The good thing is that when trying so many different cuvées from the same producer, one can truly understand and appreciate their efforts and values. Before this tasting we knew very little about Marie-Noelle Ledru and we ended up astonished by her champagne! So very disappointed by her retirement decision, but that’s life. We only hope that her exemple served for the new generation of vignerons and her champagne legacy will be preserved.
Champagne LoungeBar 
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