BEAUFORT

Unconventional Champagne by Andrè Beaufort

Andrè Beaufort, owner of 6.5 hectares of vineyards divided between the Grand Cru of Polisy in the Aube and Ambonnay and of a splendid winery located in Ambonnay, stands out among all the producers of Champagne for a strictly biodynamic management and for cultivation methods and personal and original production, the result of inexperienced experiments.

It all began in 1969, when André, after an allergic reaction to synthetic products used in viticulture, started a production based on organic farming. The conversion to the biological soon led to an experimental management based on homeopathy and aromatherapy: use of essential oils, dilutions of plants and mixtures created specifically to minimize the use of copper and sulfur (expected in biological management).

Today the land does not include treatments that are not the furrows of the hoe and the nourishment of a vegetable compound produced in the cellar, enriched with meat, bones and blood flour. Given the refusal of herbicides, chemicals, copper and sulfur, Andrè's commitment is all about achieving and maintaining the right amount of humus necessary for the nourishment of the vines: this work is very complicated in difficult climatic years, which can put the health of the plant is a severe test.

The work in the Beaufort winery is the consistent continuation of this philosophy based entirely on artisanal and natural methods, on the refusal of synthetic products and on the scarcity of invasive human interventions. After pressing the grapes, the must remains in decanting tanks for 12 hours, so that the solid elements settle, then pass into barrels and tanks, where alcoholic fermentation is carried out using native yeasts. Then it follows a decantation in winter and then it is expected that the malolactic fermentation takes place spontaneously in spring, without intervening.

The bottling then involves the use of unrefined cane sugar, concentrated grape must and natural yeasts. The bottles are then left to rest for months or years until the disgorgement, still carried out by hand ("a la volée"), and the addition of the dosage, for which concentrated grape juice is used.

The wines produced by Beaufort are the expression of a unique and unmistakable style, the result of completely unconventional agricultural and winemaking techniques. These are very special Champagne, far from trends and not aligned with the most fashionable commercial products.

The bottles that bear the signature of Beaufort, after having earned the esteem and the approval of the tasters from all over the world, retain the great ability to amaze and to give those new and original sensations that Champagne lovers can not miss.