Domaine des Arondes

From Laurent-Gabriel to Arondes

What her father Daniel Laurent started in 1982 as Champagne Laurent-Gabriel was renamed in 2023: Domaine des Arondes. Aronde is Old French for swallow, a bird that always returns to its nest yet sets off on a new journey every year. For Marie-Marjorie Laurent, that sums up her approach perfectly: faithful to what she inherited, but moving forward in her own way.

After studying logistics, it suddenly became clear: she belonged in the vineyard. In 2001 she joined her parents and learned the craft from her father. From 2012 she took charge of the cellar with her first micro-vinifications, and in 2018 she took over the estate entirely.

Three hectares, twenty-eight parcels

The estate lies in the Grande Vallée de la Marne, in the premier cru village of Avenay-Val-d’Or, plus two parcels of white grapes in the Côte des Blancs, in Avize and Oger. Together that’s three hectares, spread over 28 parcels.

Dark grapes lead the way: around 82 % pinot noir, 14 % chardonnay and 4 % meunier. The oldest vines date from 1955. Chalk runs beneath the whole rolling landscape, but because the estate is so fragmented, five different soils sit on top of it, from flinty clay to chalky loam. You can taste that flint in the glass.

Living soils

Since taking the reins, Marie-Marjorie has steered the vineyard work towards more life. Every parcel gets its own approach: sheep grazing between the rows, early leaf thinning, soil work by horse or machine, massal selection for new plantings and careful soil feeding to keep microbial life thriving. The result: ripe grapes that still hold a low pH and naturally lively acidity. The estate is certified HVE and VDC (Viticulture Durable en Champagne).

Patience in the cellar

The grapes are hand-picked into small crates. In the cellar, Marie-Marjorie lets the terroir speak: for most cuvées no malolactic fermentation, no cold stabilisation and no fining. She works with stainless steel, enamelled tanks and a few oak barrels, follows the lunar phases and protects the wine with mineral sulphur. Above all, she gives her champagnes time. Five years or more on the lees is nothing unusual here, and the dosage is always kept low.

The cuvées

Two cuvées are heirlooms of the family house. Les Sentiers is the calling card: dark grapes from Avenay blended with white grapes from Avize and Oger, half of it drawn from a perpetual reserve her father started in 1996. Les Sentiers rosés is pure pinot noir from two old parcels, taut and juicy.

Alongside them are the freer cuvées, which change with the vintage and her intuition. J’t’emmène au vent is a 2020 blanc de noirs from old vines, Fallait pas commencer a 2019 blanc de blancs of which only 951 bottles exist.

Champagne with a face: small, honest and patiently made.