Charles Dufour / Francoise Martinot

Champagne
France
No items found.

Charles Dufour / Francoise Martinot

Champagne
France
France
PRODUCER
Charles Dufour
ESTABLISHED
2006
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
REGION
Champagne
France
CITY / VILLAGE
CLIMATE
Continental
ELEVATION
SIZE

About

Based in Landreville in the Aube, Champagne vigneron Charles Dufour began his career in 2006 with a more conventional approach to Champagne, but not long after made the switch to organic viticulture (conversion of his six hectares was completed in 2010). Dufour’s are Champagnes of authenticity, reflecting, along with many other sensitive vignerons in his young cohort, the potential of the terroir of the Côte des Bars.

Dufour only ever employs spontaneous ferments for vin clairs, and the wines are free of added sulfur. He’s also taken an interest in employing Pinot Blanc in his cuvées, with this variety figuring strongly in the domaine’s Bulles de Comptoir bottling. All primary ferments are conducted in old tanks and burgundy pièces with native yeast, no so2, and full malolactic completed. Dosage is very low; liqueur de tirage is a blend of Dufour’s own wine and cane sugar; the yeasts used in the secondary fermentation are derived from his own vineyards. None of his wines are ever fined or filtered.

Dufour has also expanded his Champagne range in recent years, by making new wines from vineyards of his mother Françoise Martinot’s side of the family in a nearby village, which he also personally farms. This has lead to the separate label Françoise Martinot and the ‘Bistrøtage’ label: two lines of bubbles from the same winemaker, simply reflecting different vineyards and family. These wines are always single vintage, vinified with no added SO2 and no dosage.

We’re very pleased to offer the tiniest amount of these wines to a few select customers from such a progressive, deeply unique producer in the Aube.

Products

‘Bistrotage’ Champagne Extra Brut Blanc de Noirs

TYPE
Sparkling / White
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

Certified Organic. 100% Pinot Noir, drawn from three different sites in Chervey (Les Copies, Val Herard, and Bicheret). Vinified in a mix of steel tank and Burgundy barrels strictly with native yeasts. No SO2, zero dosage. All vintage 2017, aged one year on the lees before tirage. Tirage Oct 2018; disgorgement Dec 2022.

Download Tech Sheet
View Wine DetailsHide Wine Details

‘Bistrotage’ Champagne Extra Brut Rose B.11 AP

TYPE
Sparkling / Rosé
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

Certified Organic. 100% Pinot Noir, drawn from three different sites in Chervey (Les Copies, Val Herard, and Bicheret). Vinified in a mix of steel tank and Burgundy barrels strictly with native yeasts. No SO2, zero dosage. All vintage 2010; aged one year on the lees before tirage. The ‘AP’ in the title means ‘affinage prolongé’ (extended aging). Tirage Oct of 2011; disgorgement Nov 2021 – ten years in bottle sur lie before disgorging!

Download Tech Sheet
View Wine DetailsHide Wine Details

‘Bistrotage’ Champagne Extra Brut Affinage Prolongé

TYPE
Sparkling / White
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

Certified Organic. 100% Pinot Noir, drawn from three different sites in Chervey (Les Copies, Val Herard, and Bicheret). Vinified in a mix of steel tank and Burgundy barrels strictly with native yeasts. No SO2, zero dosage. All vintage 2010; aged one year on the lees before tirage. The ‘AP’ in the title means ‘affinage prolongé’ (extended aging). Tirage Oct of 2011; disgorgement Nov 2021 – ten years in bottle sur lie before disgorging!

Download Tech Sheet
View Wine DetailsHide Wine Details

Champagne 'Francoise Francoise' Brut Nature

TYPE
Sparkling / White
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
View Wine DetailsHide Wine Details

Champagne 'Bulles de Comptoir'

TYPE
Sparkling / White
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

Certified Organic. 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Blanc. Sourced from three different vineyard sites in the Vallée de l’Ource, with the majority of fruit coming from around Landreville (80%) and the rest Celles sur Ource (10%) and Essoyes (10%). Soils are calcareous clay (from Jurassique Supérieur). Base vintage is 2020 (80%), with 20% of the wine being réserve wines in a solera-style, starting in 2010 and aged entirely in barrel. Native ferment in barrel, vin clair aged on lees one year. Tirage Nov 2021; disgorged Feb 2023. 2g/L dosage using organic cane sugar; no added SO2.

Download Tech Sheet
View Wine DetailsHide Wine Details

Coteaux Champenois Blanc 'Vin de Comptoir'

TYPE
Still / White
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

Certified Organic. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Blanc. Percentages of each variety are hard to measure, as this wine is a still bottling of the reserve solera (or ‘assemblage perpétuel’) that Dufour uses for this other Champagnes. The solera was begun in 2010; it is aged entirely in barrel. This bottling also includes some old Champagnes from Dufour’s father having been added to the solera in a process known as ‘remise en cercle;’ these include vintages ’88, ’89, ’90, and ’97. We don’t know a single other still white wine in Champagne made like this.

Download Tech Sheet
View Wine DetailsHide Wine Details

(Robert Dufour) Champagne 'Ballad of the Villages' Brut Nature

TYPE
Sparkling / White
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

90% Pinot Noir, 10% Pinot Blanc. This wine is called ‘Robert Dufour’ because it was in fact produced by Charles and his father, Robert, before Charles officially took over the domaine and renamed it. It’s 100% 2004 vintage, with the cuvée name referring to the fruit for the wine taken from each of the four villages where vineyards are held by the family: Landreville, Chervey, Neuville, and Celles-sur-Ource. Fermentation and aging of the base wine was all in stainless steel tank; tirage was done in early May 2005; and then, in Charles’ words, “This wine stayed on the lees in bottles in the cellar at Rue de la Croix Malot without ever being commercialized. First in, first out. ;) We disgorged 3000 bottles in May 2022 just for the fun of discovering what it’s like.”

Download Tech Sheet
View Wine DetailsHide Wine Details

Mistelle 'Assemblage Perpetuel'

TYPE
Fortified
VARIETAL
Pinot Noir
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

Certified Organic. 100% Pinot Noir. This is Charles’ interpretation of a ratafia, much lighter and less alcoholic than most of the iterations frequently seen in Champagne. The final 20% of the press of Pinot Noir from a Françoise Martinot vineyard is used to obtain each new iteration of this wine – 100% taille, in other words. This particular release is 50% taille from 2020 harvest, which was blended in a ratio of 2L of must to 1L of marc, assembled into a 1,000L bin, then left outside for one year. The other 50% is Dufour’s vin mistelle perpetual réserve (2015-2019). No added SO2, unfined/unfiltered. Only 1000 bottles produced; the remaining 2020 is blended in to the perpetual reserve solera. Savory, pretty, delicate, only slightly sweet, with clear acidity and a visible imprint of the Blanc de Noirs Champagne to which it’s a sibling.

Download Tech Sheet
View Wine DetailsHide Wine Details