David Coutelas | espritdechampagne

To say that David and his wife Severine are full of life and energy is a gross understatement: they are the Joie de Vivre exponents of the region!

His family ties in the region run deep. His grandfather, Cesar Coutelas is his hero for his complete and unsurpassed dedication, which earned him enormous respect in the Valee de la Marne, and beyond, for the quality of the fruit from his vineyards.

The first bottling from the Coutelas family date back to 1910, they have been growing grapes in the region since before the French Revolution.In the wine business from the age of five, David lives and breathes Champagne.

His list of best friends includes, amongst others, fellow innovator and famous Champagne genius Anselme Selosse and Chef Arnaud Lallement from ' l'AssieteChampenoise’ (a three Michelin Starred restaurant in Reims).

David Coutelas comes from a family of vignerons dating back to the 18th century. The house is in Villers-sous-Chatillon in the Marne valley.

He is a passionate winemaker, steeped in the old traditions that you don't come across very often (Selosse and Agrapart are great friends):

Fermentation in barrels, using the winter frost to avoid mechanical filtration, they literally open the doors to the cellars in the height of winter; very high tech stuff!

Long aging, fabulous reserve wines and great “savoir faire”.

He and his wife Severine work together and are good fun.

David is the Mayor of Villers and has been for 10 years or more and must be all of 42 years of age.

He has just built a fantastic new cellar premises to suit his methods and has plans for a 'new' vineyard 'à l'ancienne' using the old method of repiquage, where the vines are propagated by burying a branch of the vine in the ground and letting it take root.

Repiquage fell out of favor, as it was the means of transferring Phylloxera from plant to plant during the great disaster in the French vineyards in the 1800's.

The rules go out the door and you end up with 40,000 vines per hectare instead of 10,000 with the soils mostly composed of sand, very young grapes for harvest but very promising in terms of quality. This would really be an innovation, so to speak, if the CIVC approve the project. )

The house produces 80.000 bottles yearly from 7.5 hectares, 6 of which they own and farm with the help of only two full-time employees.

His passion just flows with any conversation you engage him about Champagne and his heritage.His Champagnes are fermented in 5 years old Chablis barrels and undergo a long secondary fermentation, a minimum 5 years for most cuvées.

These are wines designed around the crisp natural acidity, built to last and to develop beautifully in the bottle.The Champagnes from Coutelas are ready to go Super Nova and they have the personalities to go with it.

We love these Champagne, could drink them everyday and sometimes we do!