Veuve Fourny & Fils is located in Vertus in the Côte des Blancs, the long hill renowned for its fine Chardonnay-based Champagnes. The Domaine has been in the family since 1856, and winemaking duties have been passed down from generation to generation starting with Madame Fourny herself. Brothers Emmanuel and Charles now run the Domaine. Most of the house’s wines are characterized by precision and purity, thanks to the dominance of Chardonnay and the care taken to preserve the integrity of the fruit at each step of the process. Minimal dosage is added, or none in the case of the laser-like, mineral-laden Brut Nature. All of the Fournys’ Champagnes feature extreme freshness and elegance, from the seductive Rosé Brut to the delicate vintage Blanc de Blancs.

Beginning in the 1993 vintage, the Fournys began making single-vineyard champagne from the Clos Faubourg Notre Dame, a tiny, southeast-facing parcel behind the estate that measures only 20 ares (or just under half an acre). It's an extremely chalky site, with a scant 30 to 40 centimetres of topsoil above the calcareous bedrock, and the chardonnay vines here were planted in 1951. As the Fournys harvest the Clos at lower yields than other parcels, the maximum production is about 1,500 bottles in any given vintage. The Clos Faubourg Notre Dame is vinified entirely in wood, with some bâtonnage, and released as an extra brut, with about three grams per litre of dosage. It's a wine of strong personality, needing time in the cellar to relax its firm, mineral-driven grip—at the moment it's released nine years after the vintage.

We work with this beautiful Vertus terroir, listed as Premier Cru. A 'complete " terroir, due to its geological features. The soils, mostly calcareous, contain very little clay, with areas of pure chalk, and there are therefore three different types of soils: brown topsoil over chalk, rendzine over chalk and brown topsoil over chalky gravel. Exposure to the sun is also an essential factor for the diversity of the terroir and Vertus enjoys three different exposures: East, South and South-East. Therefore we operate a very strict selection of our plots with a separate vinification of the grapes coming from about thirty 'lieux-dits " located in Vertus Premier Cru only. This mosaic of expressions gives specific personalities and identities to each of the blends in our cuvées. Moreover, we are fortunate in having a further advantage: the average age of our vines is over 40 years. Moreover, this vineyard was mostly grafted by massal selection by our grandfather Albert since 1930. A real advantage which brings regularity and complexity to our wines. The perfect age to best extract the salts and minerals from the soil. Our soils are fed with compost, some of the vineyards are ploughed and some are grassed over for better protection. - Veuve Fourny