Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition Brut NV

The Laherte estate was founded in 1889 by Jean-Baptiste Laherte. At this time, most of the five hectares of vines were situated in the village of Chavost. Today, the 10-hectare vineyard is run by the two Laherte brothers Christian and Thierry, as well as Thierry’s son, Aurélien.

Their estate is spread over three clearly delimited areas. The southern slopes of Épernay with vineyards in the villages of Chavot, Épernay, Vaudancourt, Moussy, Mancy and Morangis, are planted with the three Champagne grape varieties. The premier cru sites of Vertus and Voipreux in the Côte des Blancs, planted with chardonnay and Le Breuil and Boursault in the Vallée de la Marne, planted with the pinot meunier. The patchwork of soils as a result of owning more than 75 parcels in ten different villages enables Laherte to make the most of their terroir. Their winegrowing techniques based on natural and dynamic practices; the vines nearest to the cellars are farmed biodynamically.

The reason that the company is registered as a Negociant-Manipulant is due to the nature of the landholdings in the family and is a bureaucratic requirement. It seems that the members of the family, the brothers and their mother, each own a portion of the vines and the company Laherte Frères ‘purchases’ the grapes from the family members and therefore had to register as a producer which doesn’t own all its own vines. If they were registering today they would be able to name themselves as SR (societé de récoltant), but that designation didn’t exist at the time they originally registered.