Producer: Aurélien Lefort

Aurélien Lefort

"In Auvergne there are few vineyards, but when you see them, they are on the hillsides. The guys knew where to put things."

All his wines

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22 products

A7R1551
Aurélien Lefort

Red Serum 2019

€300,00

Where?

Aurélien Lefort has lived in Madriat, near Boudes, since 2011. For this Fine Arts graduate with a passion for wine and nature, it was either the Jura, Savoie, or Auvergne. After two years with Michel Auger at the Domaine des Maisons-Brûlées (Loir-et-Cher), then some time with Patrick Bouju near Clermont-Ferrand, his decision was made: Auvergne. He took over the lease of abandoned vineyards and converted them to organic farming. The beginnings were difficult, as the vines had to wait up to two years before they could bear fruit again. Aurélien applies his artistic and engraver's sensibilities to his plots and his wines, as well as to his wine labels. The Boudes region is an ancient wine-producing region—one of the five Côtes d'Auvergne crus—located south of the Puy-de-Dôme wine-growing zone, extending from Riom in the north to the foothills of the Chaîne des Puys, west of the Limagne plains. This exceptional, warm, and vibrant volcanic terroir was already a major wine-producing region in Gallo-Roman times. Almost wiped out by phylloxera at the end of the 19th century, the Auvergne vine has courageously survived and is currently experiencing a renaissance, thanks in particular to natural winegrowers who are rehabilitating abandoned plots. This is Aurélien Lefort's approach.

Terroir and Soils

The diversity of the plots cultivated by Aurélien, always small, implies a great diversity of soils: basalt, granite, calcareous red clays, sandy and gravelly clays over quartz flows, and, at the foot of the hillsides, marly white clays.

Plots and Grape Varieties

On numerous and fragmented plots, the Auvergne trilogy—Gamay, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay—constitutes the grape varieties. Aurélien exploits in a very personal way the unique talent of the Auvergne Gamay, dense, powerful, and spicy on these volcanic soils. He regrets the gradual disappearance of this grape variety, due to a lack of nurserymen in Auvergne to preserve it. The vines, inherited from old plantations, are sometimes more than a century old.

Growing Methods

No chemical inputs are added to the vines. The plots are grassed but mown to control humidity. The vine stocks are worked with a pickaxe to prevent the root system from suffocating. To support the leaf surface of the Auvergne Gamays, trellising is necessary. The harvest, which is done by hand, can last up to three weeks due to the meticulous sorting of the berries.

Vinification

The wines, produced without the addition of any chemical inputs in the winery or at bottling, are the result of more or less lengthy macerations (up to three months) of carefully selected grapes, leaving them as intact as possible, to promote fermentation within the berry (intrapellicular fermentation), with a slow and natural extraction of the must.

The Wines

Mostly red, sometimes sparkling, Aurélien Lefort's wines always leave a lasting impression. They can be classified as "unforgettable." They are straightforward and intense, highlighting the power and spice of the Auvergne Gamay grapes grown on volcanic-crystalline terroir. The other grape varieties also reflect the vitality of the soil. Aurélien designs his wines as well as his labels: a trained painter, engraver, and lithographer, he creates them all, each time seeking the perfect design for the cuvée.

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