St. Gall Brut Champagne Selection – Sustainable

Champagne De Saint Gall is the flagship label of Union Champagne, an Avize-Based “new-generation” cooperative on a meteoric rise to stardom. Historically most of the company’s wine has been sold to the region’s iconic houses to be blended into their top luxury brands, a practice which still accounts for a sizable proportion of Union Champagne’s business.

As far as cooperatives go this is without question the wealthiest of its kind in the world let alone the wine trade, with a staggering  1500 acres of Grand Cru vineyard land, 1500 acres of Premier Cru vineyard land, and 330 acres of unclassified vineyard land.

Most of the firm’s acreage lies in the sought-after Côte des Blancs zone, where they farm more Grand Cru acreage than all other Champagne houses combined. Now banded together, Union Champagne’s member/farmers can be considered the kings of ultra-premium Champagne, as no other firm in Champagne holds close to this amount of elite-level acreage.

Union Champagne’s recent shift, a commitment to producing and selling finished wine on their own, is the most interesting thing to happen in Champagne in quite a while.  

This is De Saint Gall’s entry-level bottling, but it is anything but shy, with a high proportion of Pinot Meunier bringing soft texture and layers of floral notes. 55% Chardonnay 25% Pinot Noir 20% Pinot Meunier, 36 months on lees, 10 g/L dosage

Fresh and easy to drink, Sélection Brut has a beautiful golden hue with a nose of white flowers and a lovely long finish.