Additional Info

Les Champs Saint Martin is located in Verzenay with a northeastern exposure. It’s in the middle of the soft slope, at 150 meters altitude. The topsoil is about 35cm deep; it is a light, whitish clay. The subsoil is white chalk. “As a pinot village”, writes Richard Juhlin “Verzenay is definitely the star of the Montagne de Reims. Admittedly the wines of the village never acquire the soft aromatic opulence of Aÿ, but they gain greater weight with age, and are extremely important base wines for great vintages such as Bollinger R. D. and Roederer Cristal, for example.” The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the character of Pinot Noir in Verzenay is the word ‘core.’ A core of black fruit; coiled up to form a core; that ripe yet contained core particular to millerandage (shot berries.)

Paul Wasserman: "It behaves like great red Volnay Santenots, with dark fruit, great minerality in reserve, all coiled up for now in the mid-palate. Ripe, nervy, chalky, saline, savory, very long, concentrated yet elegant, it is one of the best Blancs de Noir in all of Champagne and proof that Verzenay is one of the top terrors in the Montagne de Reims. If you had to use one word that most captured a wine you represent, but then that word was ‘taken’ and you could never use it again for any other wine, the word we would use for Hughes’ Champs Saint Martin is ‘profound.’ We can’t think of a more profound champagne in our portfolio."