At A Glance
- Detail
- Information
- Region
- Côtes des Bar
- Place
- Around Bar-sur-Seine
- Vineyard spread
- Seven villages
- Formats
- Brut, rosé and blanc de blancs
- Farming
- Sustainable viticulture approaching organic methods
The Producer
Three named cuvées set the visible range at Champagne Domaine La Borderie. Trois Contrées is brut, Douce Folie is rosé, and La Confluente is blanc de blancs. The house style is clean and fruit driven, with wines made from vineyards around Bar-sur-Seine in Côtes des Bar.
The domaine also pays attention to biodiversity and landscape preservation. Its production grew from 6,000 bottles to 15,000 bottles by 2019, with approximately 70 percent sold abroad.
Place
The vineyards sit around Bar-sur-Seine in Côtes des Bar, where the domaine works across several local settings. Trois Contrées brings Val Moré, Les Devoix and Clos Bidaut into one brut cuvée, with each vineyard carrying a different exposure.
The range then moves between sparkling formats. Douce Folie is rosé, while La Confluente is blanc de blancs, a Champagne made from white grapes.
Story
Simon Normand makes a clear cellar choice. Wines fermented in stainless steel undergo malolactic fermentation there, while the process is avoided in barrels. He dislikes an oxidative style and prefers fruitiness. Oak fermented wines make up 5 to 15 percent of the different cuvées, keeping oak as a limited part of the house's clean, fruit driven style.
Vineyards And Cellar
The family controls 11.5 hectares around Bar-sur-Seine. Only 1.5 hectares currently supply the domaine's own production, while the remainder is sold to cooperatives and négociants.
Viticulture is highly sustainable and approaches organic methods. Biodiversity and landscape preservation are part of the work in the vineyards. In the cellar, the limited oak fermentation gives a portion of the wines the texture and spice associated with oak, while the house style remains centred on fruit.
Wines
The range moves by format. Trois Contrées is the brut cuvée. Douce Folie is the rosé, made from Pinot Noir vines that are 50 years old in the Douce Folie vineyard, using the saignée method. La Confluente is the blanc de blancs cuvée.
These wines separate the named range by colour, grape source and sparkling style. Trois Contrées joins three vineyards, Douce Folie focuses on Pinot Noir, and La Confluente provides the white grape expression.
In The Glass
Trois Contrées has a pale gold colour with amber reflections. Its nose is floral, with spicy and dried fruit notes. The palate is tart, ample, fruity and tense.
Douce Folie has a clear, medium deep colour. Violet, raspberry, blackcurrant, morello cherry and mineral notes shape the nose, giving the saignée rosé a floral and berry driven profile.
La Confluente is lemon yellow with pale greenish yellow reflections. Its nose brings lime, white peach, acacia flowers, fresh grapes and limestone.
A Bottle To Understand It
Open with La Confluente. Blanc de blancs means Champagne made from white grapes, and this cuvée places that category beside Trois Contrées brut and Douce Folie rosé. The three named formats then become clear through the labels themselves, with La Confluente occupying the white wine position in the range.
Anecdote
In 1913, the family stopped pressing grapes and sold them to the cooperatives and négociants of the region. A black and white photograph of a harvest crowd gathered around a wooden press remained in the domaine's archive as a record of the earlier work. Pressing returned in 2013, after a hundred years in which the family no longer pressed its own grapes. The photograph still links the earlier harvests with the return to domaine production.
Final Word
Champagne Domaine La Borderie makes fruit driven Côtes des Bar wines across brut, rosé and blanc de blancs formats. Its vineyards around Bar-sur-Seine are farmed with sustainable methods approaching organic practice, while attention to biodiversity and landscape remains part of the work.
Sources
1. https://essiavellan.com/up-and-coming-la-borderie/ 2. https://www.champagne-domaine-la-borderie.fr/en/our-champagne-wines/trois-contrees/ 3. https://www.champagne-domaine-la-borderie.fr/en/our-champagne-wines/cuvee-douce-folie/ 4. https://www.champagne-domaine-la-borderie.fr/en/our-champagne-wines/cuvee-la-confluente/