Vouette & Sorbée wasn’t necessarily Bertrand Gautherot’s plan when he took over his family’s vineyards in Buxières-sur-Acre. Initially he was going to farm his parcels conventionally and sell his grapes to large  Champagne houses in the north. Inspired by friends Jérôme Prévost and Pierre Larmandier, he converted his vineyards to biodynamics, and he received certification from Demeter in 1998 and released his first Champagne in 2001.

Located in the Côte des Bar, Bertrand’s estate is named after two of his lieu-dits: Vouette & Sorbée. Unlike the vineyards in the north of Champagne with their fine chalky soils, the Côte des Bar is more like Chablis – dense, rocky, Kimmeridgian, and Portlandian limestone clay soils.    

60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, all Kimmeridgian soil, aging in barriques. Extrait is like a photography of the vintage, it’s both grapes and the only cuvee like this where there is a blend, plus super long aging almost 10 years. The first release was with the 2005 vintage. 2014 was a great year and abundant but Extrait is very small just one barrel produced, it’s a very rare cuvee.