Christophe Lefèvre
Christophe Lefèvre produces champagne in Mont Bonneil, a hilltop village overlooking the Marne Valley, just a few kilometres from Château-Thierry. The son of winegrowers, in 1995 he decided to bottle his own champagne with a clear identity: organic, independent and deeply rooted. Christophe obtained organic certification right from the start, when this choice was far from fashionable, demonstrating a consistency that time has amply rewarded. Today, supported by his son, he continues to cultivate 4.5 hectares arranged in an amphitheatre-like formation across a 100-metre elevation, on soils of highly varied composition. A geological stratification that is, in itself, a promise of complexity.
Christophe Lefèvre’s winemaking approach is based on a philosophy of radical respect for the raw material. The grapes are pressed using a traditional press and the musts are transferred by gravity, without the use of pumps. Fermentation takes place spontaneously with indigenous yeasts, without the addition of sugar, without filtration, and without cooling. For his wines, Christophe chooses to allow malolactic fermentation to take place and to bottle with low sulphite levels. The wines rest in enamelled vats, stainless steel tanks, foudres, barrels and amphorae; they are racked during the waning moon and released no earlier than three years after the harvest.
In Christophe Lefèvre’s wines, one can always recognise the distinct character of a particular terroir. There is a common thread running through the entire range: depth, balance, and a richness that surprises those expecting the conventional lightness of Champagne. Well-integrated bubbles, a full-bodied palate, and a long, savoury finish. Champagnes that speak of the Marne, not of the market.
Christophe Lefèvre produces champagne in Mont Bonneil, a hilltop village overlooking the Marne Valley, just a few kilometres from Château-Thierry. The son of winegrowers, in 1995 he decided to bottle his own champagne with a clear identity: organic, independent and deeply rooted. Christophe obtained organic certification right from the start, when this choice was far from fashionable, demonstrating a consistency that time has amply rewarded. Today, supported by his son, he continues to cultivate 4.5 hectares arranged in an amphitheatre-like formation across a 100-metre elevation, on soils of highly varied composition. A geological stratification that is, in itself, a promise of complexity.
Christophe Lefèvre’s winemaking approach is based on a philosophy of radical respect for the raw material. The grapes are pressed using a traditional press and the musts are transferred by gravity, without the use of pumps. Fermentation takes place spontaneously with indigenous yeasts, without the addition of sugar, without filtration, and without cooling. For his wines, Christophe chooses to allow malolactic fermentation to take place and to bottle with low sulphite levels. The wines rest in enamelled vats, stainless steel tanks, foudres, barrels and amphorae; they are racked during the waning moon and released no earlier than three years after the harvest.
In Christophe Lefèvre’s wines, one can always recognise the distinct character of a particular terroir. There is a common thread running through the entire range: depth, balance, and a richness that surprises those expecting the conventional lightness of Champagne. Well-integrated bubbles, a full-bodied palate, and a long, savoury finish. Champagnes that speak of the Marne, not of the market.
