De Sousa Brut Tradition

The De Sousa Brut Tradition has a seductive bouquet of citrus fruit, ripe pears and white flowers. It offers a good balance between attractive fruit and refreshing minerality. This champagne immediately reveals its merits and offers relaxed drinking pleasure without being superficial, superficial or flat. Standard cuvees from large houses often have rather neutral aromas and are characterised by an inharmonious tension between acidity and dosage. At de Sousa, perfect vineyard work and small yields result in ripe grapes without exaggerated acidity, which would have to be balanced out with dosage. 

Champagne Brut Tradition is made from 50% Chardonnay from prestigious Grand Cru sites in the Côte des Blanc such as Avize, Le Mesnil, Oger, Cramant and Chouilly with a small proportion of Premier Cru. The Chardonnay gives acidity, freshness and the minerality of the white limestone soils of the Côte des Blancs, which are rooted up to 30 metres deep. 40% of the cuvée consists of Pinot Noir from Essoyes. The Pinot Noir gives body, fullness and a beautiful fruit. The 10% Pinot Meunier comes from Mardeuil on the left bank of the Marne. They take a back seat to the other two varieties and make the cuvée rounder. De Sousa only owns vineyards on mild, old limestone soils. The limestone has weathered and become porous over many millions of years, allowing the vines to root through it without much resistance. It is not uncommon for vines to reach a root depth of 25 metres or more by the age of 30. As a result, the roots transport not inconsiderable amounts of mineral salts into the grapes. The characteristics of the base wines are less influenced by the grape variety than on loamier or clayey soils. De Sousa pays great attention to the average age of the vines. Even with Brut Tradition, which includes the younger vines of the estate, this is 25 to 30 years. Due to biodynamic cultivation, yields are low.