Producer: Champagne Fleury

Philippe Jamesse, sommelier at the restaurant Les Crayères, in Reims.

Where?

The Côte des Bar, also known as the Barrois Champenois, is the southernmost part of the Champagne vineyards. This microregion includes the towns of Bar-sur-Seine and Bar-sur-Aube, from which it takes its name. It is here, in the village of Courteron, between Bar-sur-Seine and Les Riceys (famous for a still rosé favored by Louis XIV), that the Fleury family's history has been rooted since 1895, a history that has often seen them play pioneering roles. After the phylloxera disaster, Émile, Jean-Pierre Fleury's grandfather, was the first to plant grafted Pinot Noir vines in the region. In 1970, Jean-Pierre adopted ecological farming methods with a constant focus on research: mechanical weeding, organic fertilizers, and more. In 1989, he became the first in Champagne to convert his estate to biodynamics. Now assisted by his son Jean-Sébastien, Jean-Pierre is also innovating in the field of natural wines: he is one of the few Champagne winegrowers to produce a cuvée without added sulfur. While some Champagne houses working with conventional viticulture claim that it is impossible to produce organic and natural wines in the Champagne climate, Fleury is part of a small, ever-growing group (Selosse, Beaufort, Boulard, Drappier, Laherte, etc.) that strives to prove the opposite. In Champagne, as everywhere else, biodynamics succeeds in winemaking, and Fleury is undeniable proof of this.

Terroir, plots, and grape varieties

The wine-growing area of ​​the Côte des Bar is essentially made up of a limestone plateau cut by numerous rivers, including the Seine, the Marne, and the Aube. This is where the Seine receives its first tributaries. This generous hydrography has created numerous valleys and a rolling landscape conducive to viticulture. The clay-limestone soils date back to the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian limestone). It is on this type of soil, on hillsides, that the vines of Domaine Fleury are planted, covering approximately fifteen hectares. The grape varieties are dominated by Pinot Noir (85%), followed by Chardonnay (10%), Pinot Blanc (3%), and Pinot Gris (2%). The average age of the vines is thirty-five years. The estate also purchases organic grapes from the surrounding area to supplement its production.

Growing Methods

In the vineyard as in the winery, organic and biodynamic farming are the only standard farming methods at Fleury. The entire estate is certified organic, with Ecocert, Demeter, and Biodyvin labels. The land is plowed by horse on certain plots. Harvests are carried out by hand to better preserve the grapes. No chemical inputs—weedkillers, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.—are used.

Vinification

According to the Champagne-style winemaking practiced by Fleury, pressing immediately follows the harvest. The grapes are collected in a large traditional press holding four tons. Pressing is slow and gentle to respect the integrity of the juices at every stage of the process. The musts are vinified without sulfur using yeasts selected on the estate. Jean-Sébastien Fleury installed a gallery of eight 60-hectoliter oak tuns in the winery for the maturation of the year's wines and the aging of the reserve wines. Fifty-five percent of the wines ferment in temperature-controlled enameled vats and 45% in oak tuns or barrels. The riddling of the bottles, which allows the wines to regain their clarity after champagne formation, is carried out manually on a rack. After riddling and aging on laths, the bottles are disgorged (the capsule is removed manually and the sediment is expelled using internal pressure). For Sonate, the dosage is 0.9g per liter, making this champagne an extra-brut.

The Wines

The nine Fleury champagne cuvées benefit from a process closely aligned with the land, the seasons, and nature. According to tasters, they are straightforward and lively, melodious, a faithful reflection of the terroir, and express in a tasty range the roundness and maturity of the Pinot Noir of the Aube. Among these, Culinaries offers Sonate, a natural cuvée that evokes all the original purity of the grape. This blend of Pinot Noir (60%) and Chardonnay (40%) is rich, expressive, lively and elegant, with great aromatic persistence. Its aging potential is two years. Abundant bubbles, bright gold color. Brioche and fruity nose, notes of quince and stewed apple. As delicious as an aperitif as throughout the meal, it should be served between 10 and 12 °C.