Champagne Minière F&R
Champagne Minière F&R
Hermonville, Champagne, France
Frédéric & Rodolphe Minière
To say that Frederic and Rodolphe Miniere are focused on making only the highest quality Champagne would be an understatement. With almost eight hectares of land in Hermonville, they are purposefully limiting their production to the best and oldest vines isolated from only two hectares. They are also choosing to barrel age their wines entirely in oak barrels and releasing vintage specific cuvees only after years of sur lie aging. On average, their Champagnes are spending six or more years in barrel. (They didn't release their first vintage till 2014!)
Frederic worked with Anselme Selosse for two harvests in the late 90s. It was then that Fred fell in love with barrel aged Champagne and saw the benefits of organic viticulture. At the time, he was in the middle of his oenology studies. This experience was formative for him and it convinced him to bottle Champagnes under his family name. This dream would not be realized until 2007 when his father retired and the two brothers were able to chart a new course for the domaine.
“If I hadn’t met Anselme I would not be making the wines I make today.”
— FREDERIC MINIÈRE
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Frederic and his brother, Rodolphe, are the fourth generation to lead their estate. The domaine was founded in 1919 by their great-grandfather but they never bottled Champagne under their own name. For generations, the Minières preferred to sell all of their fruit to larger houses.
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The Miniere brothers are faming almost 8 ha of vineyards located primarily in Hermonville. The upper hills are covered in a sandy-loam soil with limestone underneath while the lower areas are loam, clay, and sand. There is no chalk in Hermonville. The soil is very poor but it's a great soil for maturity, especially for old vines.
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Today, the brothers are purposefully limiting their production to the best and oldest vines isolated from only two hectares from their family’s eight hectares. All of the plots selected come entirely from Hermonville. The age of the parcels varies from 15 to 65 years, with an average age of 45 years. Farming is organic for the soil with grass growing naturally every other row and labor for the non-grass rows. If the year is very rainy, it's sometimes possible to use non-organic treatments.
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All of the wines in the cellar are produced in oak barrels with a focus on long sur latte aging. Barrels are of varied capacity, origin and age in order to reveal the diverse range of characteristics of their wines and the complexity of their blends. Immediately after the pressing process is terminated, the musts are placed in barrels to ferment. They are left in contact with their lees for six months. Malolactic fermentation is prevented in order to preserve the freshness of the wines throughout their long aging process. Once bottled the youngest wines age for 5 or 6 years before release and vintage wines for 8 to 10 years. Fred's goal is to have ten vintages aging in his cellar at once and release Champagnes that is ready to drink.