The Le Trou d'Enfer 2023 FACE SUD cuvée, made by Maison Sacy Soeur et Frère, is a vintage champagne: every grape was harvested in one and the same year.
It speaks of red fruits and white fruits, with a crunchy freshness. The texture is vinous (it has body and substance) and carries a lovely roundness.
This 150 cl magnum is ready to pour from the aperitif, with cheese gougères made with Comté, for instance, before taking it to the table alongside roast sweetbreads. Only 180 magnums were produced.
The Terroir
The Le Trou d'Enfer 2023 FACE SUD cuvée is a Blanc de Pinots Noirs, which means it is made solely from Pinot Noir.
The Pinot Noir comes from the Montagne de Reims, where Maison Sacy Soeur et Frère tends its vines.
Here the vines face due south: they take the sun all day long, the grapes ripen fully and the wine has generous fruit. The clay-sand soil works on two fronts: the clay holds water and gives it back to the vine in summer, a source of roundness and substance; the sand drains, preventing excess moisture and adding finesse.
On this terroir, Pinot Noir gives the wine structure and breadth.
The vines are farmed organically, with no synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilisers.
Winemaking
Jonathan Sacy, the grower at the helm of Sacy Soeur et Frère, chose to vinify this 2023 Pinot Noir in stainless steel tank. This neutral vessel adds no oak notes: it lets a pure, precise fruit come through, masking nothing of the grape.
Malolactic fermentation was then taken to completion (a second transformation that turns the wine's sharp acidity into a softer one). In the glass, it rounds out the freshness and brings a silkiness on the palate, where a wine without this step would stay livelier and more cutting.
The dégorgement, which removes the sediment formed during ageing in bottle, took place in April 2026. The wine gains clarity from it: it arrives in your glass bright and clear.
The 2023 Vintage
On the Montagne de Reims, 2023 began with a very wet spring. The rains, welcome after a winter short on water, gave the vines the reserves they needed for what followed. The summer, patchy and unpredictable, still delivered a very sunny June.
Early September was the hottest ever recorded. This late-season warmth allowed the Pinot Noir to ripen well, with generous bunches. The resulting style is that of an open, expressive vintage. This cuvée draws from it a mouthwatering fruit and an easy-going character, which the Pinot Noir shows with no reserve.
