Georges Laval, Vincent’s father, was the first to begin bottling wines at the domaine in 1971. Vincent officially joined the family business in 1991 after finishing his studies, and as of 1996 he has been at the helm of the estate.
Vineyards have been farmed organically since 1971. The domaine was one of the first to make the conversion to organics, and for many years was one of only a handful of producers to farm in this manner. The Laval’s have about 2.5 hectares of vineyard holdings that they farm organically, certified Ecocert, along with some biodynamic practices. All vineyard work are done by hand and there are only 4 people, including Vincent, who carry out all this work. Plowing is done by horse in all of their plots.
Cellar work mirrors their work in the vineyards, by hand and with minimal intervention. All vinification is done with native yeasts and in barrel. Vincent likes to leave the fermented juice in barrel longer than most, opting to bottle them around 10 months after harvest. SO2 is kept to an absolute minimum and he rarely adds any dosage to the wines. None of the wines are fined or filtered, all clarification happens naturally with the juice left to settle. Once in bottle the wine is left on the lees for 18-48 months, depending on the cuvée, before being disgorged.
Of the 2.5 hectares of vines that the Laval’s own and farm, two of them are in Cumières and only a 1/2 hectare is located in Chembrecy in the Montagne de Reims. However the wines of the Domaine are really all about Cumières and the families holdings in the village.
Entire production rarely hits 10,000 bottles annually. Vincent manage to carve out 3 distinct bottlings from single vineyard sites alongside his two village labeled bottlings. His single vineyard bottlings include; Les Chênes, Les Hautes Chèvres and the most recent addition to the line-up Les Longues Violes.
