Les 7 is a single-parcel field blend from a plot in Chavot, planted by Thierry Laherte in 2003 to make use of the heirloom vines of Fromenteau, Arbanne and Petit Meslier already growing within the family’s oldest vineyard plots. The addition of Chardonnay and Pinots Noir, Meunier and Blanc have made a unique co-planting of all seven allowed grape varieties of Champagne.
The varieties were harvested and pressed together, all fermentation was natural, and the wine was produced using a perpetual (or continuous) reserve, stretching back to 2005. Each year the blend is roughly 60% of the new vintage wine (2018 for this bottling) with 40% of the reserve, and so this release spans the harvests of 2005 to 2018. Disgorged by hand with no dosage.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it is hard to understate how far the wines of this producer have come over the years. Aurelien Laherte’s terroir-centric wines are now at a level that bears comparison with many of the best grower wines in Champagne—and let’s not forget that we are talking about a vigneron barely into his forties.
The wines of Laherte Freres bring something unique and delicious to our suite of grower Champagnes. This is our first grower from the Côteaux Sud d’epernay (slopes to the south of epernay) where they are certainly the benchmark. They are based in Chavot, where most of their vines are situated, but they also have some parcels in other villages of the Côteaux Sud area as well as some tiny holdings in the Côte des Blancs and the Marne Valley. This domaine’s 10 hectares of vines are fragmented into no less than 75 parcels spread across 10 different villages. In Laherte’s home village of Chavot itself—not a large place by any means—Aurelien has identified no less than 27 distinct terroirs. Many of these parcels are planted to old vines from selection massale cuttings. Such Burgundian-style diversity has given rise to a series of limited bottlings, sometimes comprised of just a single barrel’s worth of Champagne.
The focus on terroir expression and meticulous viticulture, along with the unique terroir of the Coteaux d’epernay, are the keys to understanding these expressive and delicious wines.