Ployez-Jacquemart is a family House founded in 1930 by Marcel Ployez and his wife Yvonne Jacquemart.
The whole essence of Ployez-Jacquemart rests in their continual search for excellence, their understanding of the Champagne terroir and their abilities to craft truly fine wines. These skills have been passed down through three generations and their respect for this noble heritage is the cornerstone of their approach to Champagne production.
Ployez-Jacquemart works their own vineyards, predominantly Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, in the Premier and Grands Crus villages of Ludes and Mailly Champagne, Villedommange, and Vertus. Tremendous care is taken in working these vines by hand. When necessary, they'll green harvest to ensure the overall quality of the final harvest. Long standing relationships with other wine growers, primarily in the Grands Crus Chardonnay villages, ensure consistent quality year over year.
Winemaking
Strict rules are followed each year to ensure that the very best is made of each harvest. The winery uses a blend of grapes from their own vineyards, and from a handful of carefully selected wine growers (many of whom they have been working with for 30 years). All the grapes are hand-picked and sorted by variety, cru and specific vineyard – this forms the basis for the pressing at the estate. No expense is spared; only the best juice from the first pressing is considered of sufficient quality for use. Laurence Ployez’ s meticulous attention to every detail is evident at every stage of the process. Grape musts are left to settle not once but twice before fermentation. The wine is moved frequently from one vat to another to ensure a high level of oxygenation; only light filtration is used for wines produced in vats but none at all for those vinified or aged in wooden barrels or foudres.
The use of traditional yeasts, combined with very slow bottle fermentation in the cellars (25 metres deep and 10°C), give Ployez-Jacquemart wines extremely fine bubbles. With the exception of Liesse d’Harbonville, none of their blends are written in stone, each year is a new challenge to make the very best of each harvest. Ployez-Jacquemart considers Champagne to be no different to other long established wine growing areas like Bordeaux or Burgundy and they follow a very strict policy of “quality not quantity”. Their mission is to leave the structure of each wine intact, letting the true character and personality of the harvest shine through. When the time comes to disgorge, after up to 12 years in the cellars, only a very minimal “dosage” is added , typically 3-4g/litre. This method helps to produce aromatic fruity wines with a very clean palate and a long finish whilst paying close attention to the fine balance between alcohol/acidity and complexity/freshness.