Our expertise
Winemaker
An independent home,
a mastered job
Here, everything is homemade. From grape picking to bottling, every stage of the harvest is carried out on our own premises. We have all the equipment we need to press, vinify, blend, and age our Champagne, without having to call on any outside service providers.
This independence is a real strength: it allows us to maintain total control over quality, to uphold our values, and to work at our own pace, in harmony with our terroir.
The Harvest at Champagne Émile Leclère
Work, Trust, and Friendliness
Every year, the grape harvest marks a highlight in the life of our estate. For two intense weeks, the entire Champagne Émile Leclère team rallies around a common mission: to harvest by hand the precious grapes that will give birth to our future vintages.
In a warm and friendly atmosphere, where smiles and laughter abound, everyone knows their role. Team spirit is at the heart of these busy and demanding days. Most of our grape pickers have been loyal for many years, a true mark of trust and efficiency.
From harvesting the grapes to transporting them to our brand-new pressing center, everything is done on site, in keeping with tradition and quality standards. The must is then left to rest in the vat room, the first stage in a long and carefully orchestrated transformation process.
The grape harvest at Émile Leclère is much more than just agricultural work: it is a time for passing on knowledge, solidarity, and shared passion.
Winemaking
Tradition and precision at the service of expressing the terroir
After the harvest, winemaking is an art that combines respect for Champagne traditions with mastery of modern techniques. Our goal: to accurately reveal the authenticity of our grapes, mainly sourced from the Marne Valley, while ensuring finesse, balance, and consistency in each cuvée.
We use two complementary types of farming to express the full richness of our terroir:
- Temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, which enable precise and controlled vinification, preserving the freshness, aromatic purity, and natural liveliness of our base wines.
- Oak barrels, which bring complexity, roundness, and depth to some of our vintages, while respecting the wine's identity without masking it. The wood promotes subtle micro-oxygenation, ideal for wines meant for aging.
This dual approach gives us the freedom to create nuanced blends, combining freshness and character to produce champagnes that are elegant, expressive, and faithful to the spirit of Maison Emile Leclère.
Disgorging
The subtle art that reveals the purity of champagne
Every detail counts! Disgorging is an essential step in the production of our various champagnes.
This step is carried out entirely on our premises, using our own equipment and under our exclusive control. It involves removing the sediment that has formed after a long period of aging in the cellar. Working with our own facilities allows us complete flexibility: we choose the ideal moment to disgorge each batch, depending on the aging of our bottles. This control over the timing guarantees optimal freshness, beautiful aromatic expression, and consistent quality from one bottle to the next—nothing is left to chance!
The draw
When still wine becomes champagne
Every stage in the production of our different vintages is carefully controlled, and bottling is no exception. Proud to perpetuate the Champagne tradition while incorporating the advantages of modernity, we carry out this crucial stage with our own machines, directly on our family estate.
This autonomy allows us to ensure total control over the quality of our production. Thanks to high-performance equipment that is perfectly suited to our volumes, each bottle is filled with precision, carefully corked, and stored in the cellar under optimal conditions.
The Cellar
The Émile Leclère Champagne Cellar
In the heart of our cellar, thousands of bottles lie peacefully in a calm and controlled atmosphere, where ideal humidity and constant coolness reign. It is here that the magic happens, that the effervescence is refined, to offer each tasting a unique and memorable experience.
Each bottle rests on its racks or in its wooden pallets, protected from temperature fluctuations and light. It is in this sanctuary that the champagne continues its metamorphosis, developing its subtle aromas and legendary finesse.
Blends & Tastings
The Art of Creating Balance
At Champagne Émile Leclère, blending is a key moment, a moment suspended in time when the wine takes on its future personality. It is also a moment of sharing, listening, and reflection, often experienced with others, with or without the presence of our oenologist.
Every year, we taste our clear wines one by one the base wines before secondary fermentation made from different grape varieties (Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay) and different vintages. Each sample is carefully tasted, evaluated, and rated by three people to ensure a cross-check and objective assessment of their potential.
Then comes the time to make choices: which grape varieties to blend? Which vintages to combine? The goal is clear: to seek balance, freshness, and finesse, but also to express the identity of our house.
This meticulous work, combining sensitivity, technique, and sensory memory, gives rise to our vintages, which reflect our terroir and our high standards.
At Émile Leclère, blending is much more than a technical step: it is the soul of the champagne that takes shape, with passion and precision.
