The beautiful story of Marc champagnes: a house dedicated to quality

Arthur is the 12th generation of his family to work at the Marc estate in Champagne, located in Fleury-la-Rivière. Accompanied by his son, who has joined him in this venture, they maintain the best of traditional techniques to produce high-quality champagnes.

The MARC house: in the family for 12 generations

The Marc estate has been in the family for 12 generations. Arthur Marc has worked there since 1975, and his son joined him 5 years ago. Together they cultivate 4 hectares of vines, 90% of which are planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and the remainder with Pinot Meunier.

Arthur always wanted to take over the family estate where his father worked before him. As a young boy, he already accompanied him in the vineyards, so taking over the estate came very naturally.

When his grandfather worked on the estate, only one cuvée of Champagne was produced. His father initiated the expansion of the range, and Arthur continued this, bringing the MARC Champagne range to 8 cuvées.

MARC Champagnes each tell a story

When Arthur talks about his champagnes, he tells a story for each one. " The rosé is called Rosé Chéri . We gave it this name in reference to the history of the estate ," he explains, " the wealthy owner, a courtier at the court of Louis XIII, was exiled from court because of love affairs that led him to challenge a marquis to a duel. " This romantic legend gave the rosé champagne its name.

There are also the cuvées that take on Latin names: " Perla Nera , Perla Rosa, Ultima—these are the exceptional cuvées. We chose Latin because it's beautiful and it's the origin of our language, " explains Arthur. There's also " Vintage 328, the beautiful year 2011 ," for the vintage champagne whose name refers to the 328th harvest year for the Marc estate.

“ Vintage champagnes are produced according to the year; we do not make them systematically. The important thing for these cuvées is to guarantee excellent quality, ” Arthur emphasizes.

Traditional craftsmanship in the service of quality

The goal? " To obtain very well-balanced champagnes ," says Arthur, and to achieve this, the blending process is essential: " It is necessary to ensure that the grape varieties complement each other in the blend and that none of them takes on too much importance, otherwise the champagne is no longer balanced ."

Arthur has inherited very traditional working methods from his ancestors, allowing him to produce high-quality champagnes. He explains: “ The pressing is done with a traditional hand press. We only use the first pressings because they are better and of higher quality: more complete, more acidic, and richer in sugars. Even if this reduces the quantity, the quality is then far superior. ”

“ Our unique characteristic is that we do not carry out malolactic fermentations. This allows us to produce fresh, lively and lemony wines . Especially since global warming is being felt very much in Champagne: the alcohol levels are rising and the acidity is falling, ” explains Arthur.

In the vineyard, sustainable farming practices are the rule: " We operate differently each year, depending on the needs and conditions. When conditions are good, we can drastically reduce treatments ," explains the winemaker. For the past three years, they have also been experimenting with cover cropping under the vines because, according to Arthur, " the soil doesn't like to be bare; it needs to be covered ." The clover they plant aims to limit weeds and avoid the need for a plow, which " is very labor-intensive and highly polluting ," notes Arthur.

“ Ultimately ,” he concluded on the matter, “wine is like children. You raise them, and then once they’re bottled, you lose all control. They evolve on their own, as they please.”

"Online sales are the future."

“ Beyond trade shows and export markets, our goal today is to develop our online presence. Thanks to the Les Grappes website, but also our own, we can sell directly online. We are also working on our visibility on social media. We believe that the future lies there. For this reason, our current project is to improve our online presence ,” the winemaker concluded pragmatically.

Manon Mouly (for Les Grappes )