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.