Louvois

Louvois sits on the southern flank of the Montagne de Reims, where vineyard transitions into forest. The village takes its name from the seventeenth-century Château de Louvois, rebuilt for Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, Louis XIV's Secretary of State for War and the architect of the Sun King's army. The gardens were laid out by an associate of André Le Nôtre, and the terrace retaining wall was designed by Vauban himself. The property passed in 1776 to Louis XV's daughters Adélaïde and Sophie, was largely destroyed during the Revolution, and was rebuilt in the nineteenth century. The estate is today owned by a major Champagne house and serves as a hospitality château. Pinot Noir dominates the village's modest vineyard area on the same chalk-and-clay terroir as the rest of the eastern Montagne, and most of the village's fruit feeds into the blends of major maisons.