Protected
Appellation
Champagne wines only come from the Champagne region.
Strict specifications for production methods.
Limited yield per hectare.
Champagne is 10% of worldwide sparkling wine production
Climate
Cool temperatures (10°C ).
Limited sun exposure, balanced by hilly topography.
Regular, moderate rainfall.
Brings freshness to the grapes
Chalky Soil
Geologically exeptional.
A poor substrate in which the vines find their own strength.
Naturally regulates heat and moisture.
Gives Champagne its mineral notes.
A Champagne and its history ...
Louis Morette devoted his life to the passion of making only the best champagne possible. His life was solely dedicated to his family and his wine making practices. Louis Morette “Heritage D ’Excellence” has now been passed to the House of G.H. Martel after his passing in collaboration with his dearest friends, the Rapeneau family for over four generations. His wine making practices dates to 1901 in the village of Hautvillers, a charming wine-making village known as the "Cradle of Champagne”. The House of G.H Martel & Co was purchased in 1979 by the Rapeneau family.
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Epernay, France
History of our champagne house
The House GH Martel & Co was founded in 1869 by the Tabourin family, a harvesting owner from Avenay Val d'Or, a small town a few miles from Epernay. At the end of the 19th century, Henry Léopold Tabourin was sent by his employer Auguste Devaux on an oenology and information course in Champagne. In 1984, on the death of Auguste Devaux, HL Tabourin founded, in association with Mr. Devaux 'widow, the Champagne House Veuve A. Devaux which reached the height of its success in the Belle Epoque.
Champagne Region
The Champagne wine region is located within the historical province of Champagne in northeastern France. The area is best known for the production of the sparkling wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term "Champagne" exclusively for wines that come from this region, located about 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Paris, but there was recently a small region that was once connected to Britain that was also able to create champagne.
The viticultural boundaries of Champagne are legally defined and split into five wine-producing districts within the historical province.
Our primary vineyard locations are in the Aube region of Côte des Bars, the Sézanne, and Marne Valley.
The Côte des Bars makes up about one-third of the Champagne appellation, making it one of the most popular areas to grow Pinot Noir.
Sézanne, along with the neighboring Cote des Blancs are the most highly prized regions for Chardonnay in all of Champagne. Our Pinot Meunier vineyards in Marne Valley are a stone’s throw away from the famous Dom Perignon vineyards.
The land forms a semicircular sweep of steeply sloping vineyards. The wines reflect their picturesque landscape, offering body and a distinctive freshness that is much sought after by Champagne blenders, creating several elements of distinction to the brand.
Méthode Champenois is the traditional method by which Louis Morette is produced. The wine goes through a vigorous process starting with primary fermentation following the secondary fermentation and the capping and crowning of the bottles. Next the wine is aged for a total of 3 years at a 45-degree angle and riddled.
Concluding the process, the bottle necks are frozen, the corks removed, a dosage of sugar is added, bottles recorked and finished. This process has been used for centuries and ensures the highest quality wines with more layers of complexity and fruit than bubbles made through a different process.
The Making of
Louis Morette
History:
Our Champagne bottles are stored in the same cellar which protected Jewish people during World War II. Residents of the area also took more active forms of resistance. They hid arms and Allied soldiers in their cellars. Many Jews, took refuge there. It’s a fitting tribute to the people of Champagne, who creatively resisted the occupation in ways both big and small.
The Region of Epernay-Champagne
The region's reputation for wine production dates back to the Middle Ages when Pope Urban II ( ruled 1088-1099 AD/CE ), a native Champenois, declared that the wine of Aÿ in the Marne département was the best wine produced in the world. For a time Aÿ was used as a shorthand designation for wines from the entire Champagne region, similar to the use of Beaune for the wines of Burgundy.[8]
The poet Henry d'Andeli's work La Bataille des Vins rated wines from the towns of Épernay, Hautvillers and Reims as some of the best in Europe. As the region's reputation grew, popes and royalty sought to own pieces of the land with the Pope.
Leo X, Francis I of France, Charles V of Spain, and Henry VIII of England all owned vineyard land in the region. A batch of wine from Aÿ received in 1518 by Henry VIII's chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, is the first recorded export of wine from the Champagne region to England.
The still wines of the area were highly prized in Paris under the designation of vins de la rivière and vins de la montagne- wines of the river and wines of the mountain in reference to the wooded terrain and the river Marne which carried the wines down to the Seine and into Paris.
Largest Family-owned Producer in France
G.H. Martel is the largest family-owned producer and grower in Champagne. The family owns over 420 hectares of vineyards and maintains over 500 long term family partnerships. The grapes are managed from growth to bottle by the Rapeneau family. G.H. Martel & Co champagnes are sold in over 70 countries. They sell an annual production of 6 million bottles, 50% in France and 50% export. They maintain two cellar shops in the historic center of Reims. The vineyards have been awarded the prestigious HVE Level 3 certification for sustainability and vineyard practices. This is the highest level a vineyard can achieve.
