Magnums and Jeroboams from Champagne De Sousa:
A limited time PRE-SHIPMENT offer
There are excellent wines to be found at this address, in particular the Caudelie range produced from domaine fruit... and they deserve to be better known among Anglophone wine lovers.
William Kelley, robertparker.com, August 2022
De Sousa, Mycorhize, Grand Cru, Extra Brut NV
£330 per 3 magnums in bond
De Sousa, Caudalies, Grand Cru NV
£330 per 3 magnums in bond
De Sousa, Reserve, Grand Cru, Extra Brut NV
£195 per Jeroboam (3 litres) in bond
This is the first time we have offered magnums of De Sousa's brilliant pair of Mycorhize and Caudalies and the first time we have ever offered anything in Jeroboam from De Sousa.
As I have said previously, De Sousa is a Champagne House seemingly incapable of making anything other than spellbinding champagne - at prices that offer incredible value. Many of you know this, of course.
We are currently preparing to ship our next order and and are therefore pleased to make a pre-shipment offer of large formats of three of their most avidly followed wines – Mycorhize, Caudalies Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru NV, and Avec Le Temps (now Reserve, Grand Cru Extra Brut). What better wines with which to celebrate in forthcoming months? I should add that De Sousa bottle comparatively few magnums and even fewer jeroboams. This is the first time we have been able to offer Mycorhize or Caudalies in magnums so don’t miss out.
We will finalise the order this week so that we can ship in time for any wines ordered to be deliverable to you before Christmas. PLEASE LET US KNOW BY THE END OF THE DAY ON WEDNESDAY 29TH OCTOBER IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ORDER ANY OF THESE LARGE FORMATS.
This outstanding Champagne house should be firmly established on your radar. Based in the Grand Cru village of Avize, the De Sousa range delivers at every level. Their wines continue to offer staggering value. As you may be aware, we have worked directly with De Sousa since the earliest days of Atlas and, as a result, I imagine many of you probably already share our view on the merits of these wines.
That said, we do still struggle to understand why anyone would pay not just the same, but often much more, for a lesser Champagne, made in near industrial quantities. Why pay more for a mass-produced Champagne sourced from, at best, Premier rather than entirely Grand Cru vineyards, when such great grower Champagnes as De Sousa exist?
A little background
Julie, Valentin and Charlotte are the current generation the De Sousa family in charge. The family has been in Avize since just after the First World War but the Champagne house was founded in 1986 by Erick and Michelle. The scale is modest. They have 14 hectares across 42 different vineyard parcels in the villages of Avize, Aÿ, Ambonnay, Cramant, Chouilly, Le Mesnil sur Oger and Oger. They have cultivated their vineyards organically since 1989 and converted to biodynamic viticulture in 1999. Everything at De Sousa is about quality over quantity. The care for and commitment to their land, their vines, the wider environment is evident in everything they do and was recognised recently in a Slow Food UK award for sustainability. This is not a family looking to use the Grand Cru status as a marketing tool on their label but instead a family committed to continuously elevating quality in Grand Cru vineyards, ensuring that they are worthy of their status and, through their farming methods, that they will continue to be so for generations to come.
In short, we should no longer be amazed at the sheer purity of the fruit that is unwaveringly expressed in these magnificent wines. Yet each time we taste and retaste, we marvel at the quality. Much of the marvelling is down to the favourable prices of the De Sousa wines – they remain so ridiculously reasonable, which is not a common comment in Champagne.
These three Blanc de Blancs are well worth adding to your cellar or purchasing for the festive season. It is needless to say that limited volumes are available and that an early response is advised if you are interested.
To re-iterate, we are taking orders until the end of the day on Wednesday 29th October. So act now to avoid disappointment.
De Sousa, Mycorhize, Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru, Extra Brut NV
£330 per 3 magnum case in bond
Mycorhize is a very limited cuvée of just 3,000 bottles. The name Mycorhize (pronounced ‘me-cor-reeze’) describes the fungi that inhabit the area around the root zone and that create a symbiotic relationship between the roots of the vine and the soil leading to greater mineral uptake. While the whole estate is biodynamic, the Mycorhize vineyard was the first to be ploughed entirely by horse, the aim of which is to reduce soil compaction and thus promote the development of Mycorhize, resulting in a Champagne of significant elegance and minerality. The fruit comes from 80 year old vines cultivated biodynamically in a single hectare plot on chalk soils called Les Hauts Nemery in the Grand Cru village of Avize. These magnums are based on the 2012 vintage with fermentation of the 100% Chardonnay taking place in oak barrels before 3 years aging and dosage of just 3 g/l.
De Sousa, Cuvée des Caudalies, Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru, Extra Brut NV
£330 per 3 magnum case in bond
Cuvée des Caudalies NV comes from Grand Cru fruit of old vines in some of the greatest Chardonnay villages of the Cote des Blancs – Avize, Mesnil and Cramant. The vines are more than 60 years old. Farming, as with all of the family’s vineyards, is biodynamic. The wines are fermented and aged in oak barrels for added subtlety and complexity. The first fermentation is 100% in oak barrels of which 8% are new. The resultant base wine is then blended in a 50:50 ratio with “reserve perpétuelle” wines from a reserve that was started in 1995 and which thus brings an astonishing complexity to a this non-vintage cuvée. These magnums are based on the 2016 vintage, which makes up 50% of the blend, the balance coming from the Reserve Perpétuelle.
De Sousa, Reserve, Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru, Extra Brut NV
£195 per Jeroboam (3 litre) in bond
Avec Le Temps was the name given to a Blanc de Blancs from the Grand Cru villages of Avize and Oger, sourced from vines with an average age of 35 years. The vineyards were in conversion to biodynamic viticulture. Now that this process has been completed the Avec Le Temps label no longer exists and the fruit from these vineyards make up the De Sousa Reserve Grand Cru Extra Brut NV, which is what we able to offer here in Jeroboam format. This was vinified in tank and with low dosage (5g/L).
Please let us know of your interest.
Richard
richard.omahony@atlasfinewines.com