Émilien Feneuil took over his family winery in 2006. The winery is in Sermiers in the heart of Montagne de Reims. Émilien farms just over 2 hectares of vines spread across 15 plots near Chamery and Sermiers. His vineyards are planted with a wide range of native species in addition to the vines and the grape yields are correspondingly very low. Wildly propagated trees shoot up from among nettle, grasses, dandelion, and clover, his vine rows yoking across the wild fields! Pascaline Lepeltier says of the vineyards, “The soil was supple like a soft carpet, and a delightful humus scent was floating. It just felt good.” Émilien’s methods arose from an encounter on a trip to Morocco where he saw a grapevine, olive tree, and almond tree all growing ancient together in communion, each still bearing fruits. This sense of communion shook him and he decided that he wanted his vineyards to grow with a similar quality. 2015 was the first year Émilien began bottling his own wines and the world is brighter for it. All his wines ferment in old Burgundy barrels with indigenous yeasts. Drinking the wines, the care and fastidiousness in their making is immediately apparent in their soulful complexity and beguiling power.

Cuvee Totum is Émilien’s blended cuvée, combining chardonnay and petit meslier from 1er cru plots of chalky, loamy soils. There are just over 20 hectares of petit meslier in all of France, so this wine is a unique opportunity to encounter one of Champagnes’ rarer grapes farmed by one of the most fastidious farmers in all of France. The meslier is proving ever more valuable to farmers in Champagne, as it imparts a bright, enlivening acidity even in hot summers. This champagne is vibrant and pure, giving the impression of a country spring burbling up through limestone. Elegant and discreet, this wine thrums with light pears, fennel, white blossoms and the goldenness from its barrel aging.

This wine has an estimated arrival of early spring.