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The story

In the charming little village of Oiry in the heart of the Vallée de la Marne, Les Roches Blanches has been making champagnes to the very highest standards for the last 20 years.

Today in Oiry, in the heart of the Champagne region, more specifically the Côte des Blancs, Les Roches Blanches makes champagnes to the very highest standards. However, the story began over 20 years ago, in 1994, when a young local agronomic engineer and graduate of the Reims Ecole Supérieure de Commerce, Nicolas Gueusquin, decided to create a limited company in Dizy: Les Roches Blanches.

In 1996, the company bought old cellars and buildings in the village centre where it began to produce, bottle and sell its own champagne. With production and sales growing year-on-year, it was forced to build a bigger building equipped with a new fermentation cellar. The building was completed in 2005, a few streets away from the initial premises. Then in 2012, with production and sales volumes continuing to grow, the company found itself in need of an even bigger production facility, which it built in Oiry. In 2016 all the fermentation cellars were relocated to a new building a few metres away from the main facility.

In a quest to improve product quality and build the company’s reputation, management decided to apply for International Food Standard (IFS) certification which has been in place since 8 December 2015. This certification guarantees product safety for consumers and product security for distributors. The company also set itself the target of obtaining British Retail Consortium (BRC) certification by the end of 2016, which will give it better control of all its internal processes and mitigate risks. The introduction of ERP software and its work on traceability, documentation and the production equipment allows Les Roches Blanches to uphold its constant quest for excellence.

Production
structure

LLes Roches Blanches has achieved the perfect balance between champagne storage and bottling activities. Fermentation is a simpler process which takes place in 88 thermoregulated stainless-steel vats. 85% of the champagne is sold through French and European supermarkets and hypermarkets and 15% via the traditional channels (wholesalers, specialist wine shops and private customers). Over one third of the company’s revenue comes from exports and export sales are growing each year.
The company also owns 10 hectares of vines distributed throughout the Champagne region.
Today, it takes a busy team of 26 to ensure the wines are of the very best quality:
Marjorie Navarre, oenologist and cellar manager, keeps a watchful eye on every cuvée, creating harmonious blends which guarantee the trademark finesse and extreme elegance of Nicolas Gueusquin champagnes.
Wilfried Mackow, production manager, has been keeping the Les Roches Blanches tradition alive since the very beginning. He is responsible for the vital stages of production: riddling, disgorgement and bottling. And the whole team, perpetuating the company tradition, work together to ensure the champagnes get better and better each year.

Vinification

The grapes are hand-harvested in September and then carefully pressed before the must (juice) is driven to the cellars in Oiry for fermentation. This is where the magic happens. The yeast feeds on the sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide.
The next stage is the malolactic fermentation. Extreme care is taken to ensure the resulting aromas are softer, more mature and delicately lactic.
Cellar manager and œnologist, Marjorie Navarre, monitors and controls every stage of conception, creating well-balanced blends which are the hallmark of the very best champagne producers.