Marie-Noelle Ledru

In Ambonnay, a Grand Cru village of the Montagne de Reims celebrated as the realm of Pinot Noir, Champagne Marie-Noëlle Ledru guards the legacy of four generations of vignerons, independent since 1946, when Champagne was dominated solely by the great Maisons. A former civil servant, Marie-Noëlle took the reins in 1984, establishing herself with rigour and sensitivity as one of the great madames of Champagne, capable of crafting wines of rare purity in a long male-dominated world.

Her roughly two and a half hectares of vines, predominantly Pinot Noir with a small share of Chardonnay, grow on steep chalky slopes facing southeast, worked by hand and without herbicides or pesticides. Vinified in steel, without oak, with manual dégorgement and minimal dosage, these Champagnes combine power and finesse. Today her bottles, increasingly hard to find, remain a treasure to seek out and cherish with genuine emotion.