Cédric and Fabien, the Leclerc Mondet brothers, are located in the Marne Valley, west of Épernay.
There, they cultivate the three main Champagne grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Since 2017, all of their Chardonnays (⅓ of the estate) are certified organic. The remainder of the estate is, meanwhile, being converted.
The Leclerc Mondet family produces champagnes with very expressive and fruity notes. But the real calling card of this family-run house is those unique notes of honey and lime blossom that can only be found in their wines!
The origins of Leclerc Mondet champagne
The family estate was founded by Renée Mondet and Henri Leclerc, the grandparents of the current winemakers. The real beginnings of Leclerc Mondet champagne go back to the 1960s, when the family's first champagnes were marketed.
Naturally, their son, Christian Leclerc, joined them in the business, shortly followed by his wife Jacqueline. Together, they decided to focus on harmonising the house's blends, which would give rise to champagnes appreciated for their roundness, finesse and elegance.
In 1992, Christian Leclerc died in an accident. Nevertheless, Jacqueline and her parents-in-law decided to continue to run the estate and to maintain the working methods they had worked so hard to develop. Today, Cédric and Fabien have taken over responsibility for the family estate. Eager to preserve and pass on their estate one day, they naturally opted for organic certification of their estate. This allows them to guarantee the transparency of their working methods and to emphasise the expression of the terroir through their champagnes.
The Leclerc Mondet estate
The family's vineyard covers 9 hectares, or about thirty different plots of land in the vicinity of Trélou-sur-Marne. The vines grow on the clay-limestone soils that have made the reputation of the Marne Valley and are exposed to the southwest. Pinot Meunier, the emblematic grape variety of this region of Champagne, naturally makes up nearly the majority of the family's land (45%), followed by Chardonnay (35%) and Pinot Noir (20%).
The Leclerc Mondet family has always considered its estate as a separate space, cultivating it like a garden without giving in to the temptations of a productivist viticulture. No chemical or synthetic products are used, even long before the conversion to organic viticulture. The soils are maintained by mulching with bark and exclusively mechanical work. The development of life in the vines is ensured by the use of natural products: home-made composts made from a mixture of vine shoots, tree bark and manure from the village farm. The protection of the vines is ensured by the use of herbal teas (nettles, orange peel, etc.) and Bordeaux mixture.
The wines produced from these pampered vines are all the more expressive. They are fruitier than most champagnes, but above all stand out for their honey and lime flavours, which are the signature of Leclerc Mondet champagnes.
Leclerc Mondet champagne
The wines of the house receive special care right from the harvest. The grapes are sorted and pressed when perfectly ripe, before being vinified in the company's cellars. After three to four weeks of fermentation, Leclerc Mondet champagnes are made by blending the three grape varieties, with different proportions depending on the cuvée, but always favouring the balance and natural fruitiness of the wine. The wine is neither fined nor filtered for greater purity.
Sulphite levels are very limited in these organic and in-conversion champagnes, with levels below 30 m/L, allowing the natural flavours of the grapes to be expressed as authentically as possible.