Vertus

Vertus is the largest Premier Cru on the Côte des Blancs by vineyard area, stretching through the southern half of the strip about 25 kilometres south of Épernay. Plantings are predominantly Chardonnay, but Pinot Noir holds enough ground here to support a small still-red tradition known as Vertus Rouge, sold under the Coteaux Champenois appellation. The village is closely associated with the modern grower-Champagne movement through the Larmandier family, whose biodynamic estate has produced some of the most-cited terroir-driven Côte des Blancs wines of the past two decades. The largest resident house, Duval-Leroy, dates to 1859. Vertus is also home to several walled clos that survived the post-phylloxera replant, including a rare south-east-facing site established by massal selection from 1930s vines.