Chardonnay Champagne House Le Brun de Neuville lands in Singapore at Nova Cellar Selection

Chardonnay specialist Champagne from the Côte de Sézanne to the south of the Côte des Blancs, Le Brun de Neuville, is now in Singapore through Nova Cellar Selection.

Le Brun de Neuville is a growers' co-operative, started in 1963 by a group of vine growers in the Sézannais and based in the village of Bethon. The name goes back further than the bubbles: in 1833, Charles-Henry Lebrun, who owned the Château de Bethon, added the particle "De Neuville" to the family name, after a piece of land the Lebruns held. Today the house draws on around 150 grower members farming roughly 150 hectares, and Chardonnay makes up about 90 per cent of what goes into the bottles, with a little Pinot Noir alongside. The range Nova is now carrying is built almost entirely around it.

The starting point is the Côte pair. The NV Côte Blanche Blanc de Blancs Brut is the straightforward Chardonnay of the house, made only from that grape. The NV Côte Rosée Brut is its rosé counterpart, a lighter, pinker expression.

Damien Champy, Président de la Cave of Le Brun de Neuville.

Then there's the two Les Chemins cuvées, both built on the 2017 base vintage, follow what the house calls a single-vineyard approach. The NV Le Chemin Empreinté Blanc de Blancs Extra-Brut is the all-Chardonnay version; the NV La Croisée des Chemins Blanc de Noirs & Blancs Extra-Brut brings Pinot Noir into the blend. In the producer's own words, "the single-vineyard approach, the sustainable viticulture and the Human's imprint are the markers of these cuvées; mainly elaborated in oak barrels and tanks, with indigenous yeasts, followed by a long maturation on lees under cork and disgorged by hand." 

The Autolyse cuvée wears its winemaking on its sleeve. The NV Autolyse Blanc de Noirs & Blancs Brut is built on a 2009 base, and the house explains the idea: "At the end of the fermentation and while the ageing on lees in bottle, the yeast gradually die, the phenomenon of 'Autolyse' takes place: this is the realizing of some molecules which interacts with the wine and provides power and complexity. 'Autolyse', from selected plots and matured several years on lees in the cellar, celebrating the time and its imprint on the wine." In practice, long ageing on the spent yeast is what tends to give aged Champagne its bready, biscuity, sometimes nutty character.

The NV Le Chant des Fûts Blanc de Blancs Extra-Brut, from the 2019 harvest, is the second edition of this cuvée, disgorged on 29 October 2024. Just 2,514 bottles were made. The house describes it as revealing "notes of sunny Chardonnays, aged for a long time in barrels of different capacities from French and Champagne coopers," and says the wine "celebrates the generosity of the 2019 harvest, enhanced by long ageing in oak barrels." 

Nova Cellar Selection buys directly from a domaine's own allocation or through its partnered négociant. The merchant was formed in July 2017 by Novalan Dorasamy and supplies both the on-trade (restaurants and hospitality venues), and private clients directly. Dorasamy had come up through the floor, working his way up at Raffles Hotel as sommelier and then cellar master before starting the business. 

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team