Champagne Eric Isselée
Cramant
Champagne Eric Isselée is based in Cramant on the Cotes des Blancs the vineyards cover 8 Hectares in Cramant, Oiry, Avize and Oiry, with the Cellars and winery in Cramant.
The cellars were hand hewn by Eric's Father, in the evening after he had finished work in the vines. As you can see in the video they can be lit by candlelight as in previous times and are very atmospheric.
The winery still has all the tools to hand disgorge for small production runs, as Eric demonstrates in the video. He can disgorge about 800 bottles a day by hand as opposed to the 12,000 or so bottles the machines can handle.
Vines: 8 Hectares.
Age of Vines: Average age 35 years, Range 10 - 75 years
Ageing on the lees: 3 years NV, 4-.6 years Vintages
Annual Production: 13,000 6 pack cases
Eric and his wife Carole run the winery and are good fun, Carole especially. Eric is known as one of the most passionate Champagne makers and that is probably the reason he and his brother fell out spectacularly when they took over the family winery.
After a huge row in the middle of the street they never spoke again. This left Eric with his share of the vines but no winery, cellars or customers, so the road to his current success has been quite tough. Not helped by the fact that they live across the street from each other.
The Champagnes are beautifully made and even the entry level Brut, Cuvée Grappes d'Or has 70% Grand Cru wines in the assemblage.
Cramant is on the Northern tip of the Cote des Blancs, a mere 5 kilometres from Epernay with a view down the Cote over the villages of Avize, Oger and Le Mesnil .
