Le Trou d'Enfer 2023 Face Nord, from Domaine Sacy Soeur & Frère, is a vintage champagne. It carries the imprint of a single year and comes from the Montagne de Reims.
This is a cuvée built around citrus and white fruit, finishing on a floral note. The texture is poised, fresh and crunchy, drawn tight by a mineral precision.
This is a magnum you can pour at aperitif time, with cheese gougères perhaps, then bring back to the table alongside a sole meunière. Only 220 magnums exist.
Le Terroir
Le Trou d'Enfer 2023 Face Nord is a Blanc de Blancs, meaning it is made solely from Chardonnay.
The Chardonnay comes from the Montagne de Reims in Champagne, where Maison Sacy Soeur & Frère tends its vines, in the Trou d'Enfer plot, north-facing.
The plot's name announces its aspect: on a north-facing slope, the vines receive less direct sun. The grapes ripen more slowly and hold on to a lively freshness, which gives the wine tension and a clean, bright edge on the palate. This slow ripening gives the aromas time to build without the fruit becoming heavy.
On this terroir, Chardonnay brings elegance and precision to the wine.
Organic viticulture: no synthetic pesticides have touched the vines.
La vinification
Jonathan Sacy, the grower at the helm of Maison Sacy Soeur & Frère, chose to vinify this Chardonnay in stainless steel tank. It matters: steel is a neutral vessel that adds no oak notes and lets the fruit speak for itself. The result is pure, direct fruit and a precise freshness with nothing to mask it.
The wine then went through malolactic fermentation (a second transformation that turns sharp acidity into a softer one), taken here all the way through. It rounds out the acidity and adds silkiness, giving the wine a fuller mouthfeel without dulling its vivacity.
The sediment that formed in the bottle was removed in April 2026. This date tells you when the wine was cleared of its lees so that it could be served bright and clear.
Le millésime 2023
In 2023, on the Montagne de Reims as across the appellation as a whole, spring was cool and rainy. The rains replenished the soils' water reserves after a dry winter, and the vines got off to a later start than expected. The summer alternated between hot and cool spells, then remarkable heat accompanied the harvest, among the hottest ever recorded. It gave the grapes lovely ripeness and bunches of record weight, while the acidity (what gives the wine its freshness and zip) remained firmly in place. For this Chardonnay, 2023 left a style in which ripe fruit meets a crisp freshness.
