Label: Charles Dufour
Vintage: NV
Fruit: Pinot Noir 
Region: Côte des Bar, Champagne, France 
ABV: 12%

organic / biodynamic 

spicy complex / pure ascendance / i can see clearly now

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.