marx-coutelas
Winemaker: bryan marx
Country: France
Region: Champagne (Marne Valley)
Appellation(s):
Champagne, Coteaux Champenois
Grapes:
Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier
Farming:
organic
Geology:
limestone
Bryan Marx is an outlier in the town of Venteuil, on the south side of the Montagne de Reims just a few minutes west from Épernay.
Although some pioneering domaines of respectfully-farmed Champagne are nearby — AR Lenoble (Damery) and Vincent Laval (Cumières) — in Venteuil itself, organic and biodynamic methods are still practically seen as heretical!
Bryan, a former graphic designer in Paris who never went to winemaking school, took over for his father in 2018 and transformed the family holdings into a certified organic domaine despite protests from his hometown neighbors.
The Marx-Coutelas wines are neat, undervalued low-dosage Champagnes from mostly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that we can drink all year long.
But we're even more excited for Bryan’s new solo project he’s created. In Spring 2023, he will release the first vintage of his own production — bottlings of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and a little Meunier. Each has been aged in used acacia barrels in a natural limestone cave (accessible only via a roadside trap door) deep underneath one of the family parcels; they are all absolutely stellar. The future is bright!
