Champagne Bochet Lemoine
Cormoyeux
Bochet-Lemoine is a small house based in the village of Cormoyeux, which is part of the 'Magic Triangle' with the villages of Romery and Fleurie la Riviere. Jacky Bochet has 8.5 Hectares of vines, most of which are in one contiguous plot on a south facing slope just outside the village. Jacky and his wife Valerie Lemoine have been running the winery for the last twenty years, after taking over from Valerie's parents.
Jacky's family are fourth generation winemakers but have been growers for considerably longer in the region. Jacky is engaged in every part of the process and assembles the wines himself. The range includes his Brut, Brut Grande Reserve, Rose d'assemblage, millésimes and a 100% Chardonnay, mono parcellaire, monocépage, millésime from vines planted in 1955 called Grimpres after the parcel of vines.
The wines are an expression of Jacky's vision and are becoming very popular in France. He attends a fair in Paris every November and routinely sells 10,000 bottles over two days. 95% of the production sells in France and it is not available anywhere else in the USA, with the bulk of the foreign sales in the UK.
Jacky and Valerie's son, Pierre, has recently completed his studies in Oenology and is currently working for Lanson, and will be coming into the family business full time in about three years. Already a talented wine maker, his work residence at a winery in South Africa saw him take the reins at pressing and then to be given the responsibility of making the wine as he saw fit, the experience was offered to him again this year as the owners were delighted with the results.
Owners: Jacky and Valerie Bochet
Website: champagne-bochet-lemoine.com
Winemaker: Jacky Bochet
Vines: 8.5 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: 14,000 6 pack cases
This is a family enterprise employing just two full time operatives augmented by a team of grape pickers with 12 years of experience, paid by the hour and professional enough to select the best bunches for harvest, leaving the inferior bunches on the vines. Most Major houses use 'by the pound' harvesters who pick quickly and pay little or no attention to what they collect. This attention to detail shows in the wine.
Jacky has a superb wine cellar that runs from his house under the road and to the winery for when the weather is bad! He was keen for his son Pierre to marry the daughter of a friend who also makes Champagne, Pierre however was not sold on the idea. Jacky’s response was 'but she comes with 15 hectares of vines!'
Jacky works in Culture Raisonnée as do all our growers, the minimum use of chemicals, no herbicides or pesticides, the use of pheromones to cause sexual confusion in insects, using grass in between the vines to aid water retention and attract life to the soil.
