di Roberto Bellini 
Un riferimento ancestrale è quello della vendemmia, il Domaine Alice Beaufort la inizia cento giorni dopo la fioritura, mentre (secondo loro) le Maison la iniziano due settimane prima per preservare l’acidità. La vinificazione è tutta naturale, non ci sono lieviti aggiunti, non c’è controllo della temperatura, perché l’escursione termica è collegata al susseguirsi delle stagioni: caldo d’estate, freddo in inverno. A loro dire adottano anche l’aggiunta di solforosa à la romaine, facendo bruciare dello zolfo puro in botte chiusa e poi ci versano il succo del vino da lavorare. In questo modo rispettano la naturalità e quindi il tenore in SO2 è minore (però c’è). La fermentazione malolattica è favorita per permettere la stabilizzazione del vino. It is difficult if not impossible to work with wine when you have a name like Beaufort and you are married to one of the children of the most charismatic and alternative winemakers in the Champagne region.
Alice and Quentin Beaufort, the third child of the great Jacques, crowned their dream of love when, in 2007, they were offered a small vineyard of four acres close to the border of the Champagne region and the historic vineyards of Polisy, which are about 15 miles away as the crow flies.
We are in Burgundy, at the edge of Côte d'Or, but Alice and Quentin aren’t worried, on the contrary, they are happy to work within a more flexible legislation with respect to that of the Champagne region. However, at the same time, they are also aware that the small vineyard they have acquired, and which today has expanded to about 22 acres, has a great potential given that it is located within a terroir identical to Polisy, especially geologically.
Why not take the opportunity to produce, not great Champagne, but a great Crémant de Bourgogne?
The methods and experiences of the Beaufort house are obviously followed in the vineyard, which involve the banning of chemicals and only the use of treatments based on essential oils, aromatherapy and copper, the use of which, so they write on their site, is about half of that provided for by the organic guidelines.
Vinification also follows the natural path: there is no use of selected yeasts, bacteria, or enzymes, no practice of sugaring, acidification, filtration, and no temperature control. It will be cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Very little sulfur is used.
Fermentation takes place in oak barrels that are at least three years old. After carrying out the malolactic fermentation, the wine is bottled in the summer, generally in August, to allow them to perform the second fermentation, which is always followed by disgorging "à la volée".
Having made this opportune introduction which gives an overview of the context in which the “sparkling” wine is produced, I must admit that Le Petit Beaufort Brut Millésime 2010 (75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay) that I drank from Remigio really surprised me, obviously in a positive sense.
The wine has a fine and persistent perlage and an initially hard olfactory profile that I am sure will cause some… to turn up their noses. Champagne is more elegant. Here, in effect, the minerals are rampant; they reach you with an unexpected slap and, while you are still trying to understand what happened, the smell of salt enters your nostrils. If you close your eyes, you will think that you are on the shore of your favorite beach instead of in Burgundy.
Is that it? No way! In fact, as soon as you assume that, despite everything, your Crémant de Bourgogne is good but a little too monothematic, the fruit arrives, pear and white peach throughout it all, to make the aromatic picture unexpectedly complex, muffling a certain rustic character that, with time, is further refined with the emergence of hints of ginger, wet earth, citrus, and red sorrel.
In the mouth it is consistent and sharp; the salty note that it leaves after swallowing brings me back to when I was young, with my usual sore throat, when my mother made me rinse with water and salt.
The creaminess of the wine comes later, like a wave, to balance everything and bring me back from the past.
Alice, on the website of her Domaine, apologizes that she sells wines that are too young. Words that are a guarantee of honesty and quality. If you pass by Remigio, try to buy an extra bottle; drink one with Stefano and Alessandro, and put the other in the cellar next to the real Champagnes. You’ll see…
By: Paths of Wine
From Italy | 13 Jan 2013
From Italy | 13 Jan 2013
Pour le Japon :
| シャンパーニュじゃないけど… とんでもなくシャンパーニュの味わいを満喫！ 妙な表現から始まって、皆様を戸惑わせていますか？！ このワインが造られている場所はトロワの南東約70km。 シャンパーニュ(AOC)を名乗るブドウ栽培地をわずか数キロメートル超えているために、 シャンパンと同じ方法で造っていてもシャンパンの名前を名乗れないのです。 そんな訳で、ラベルには「発泡性ワイン」という意味のフランス語（Vin Effervescent）で表示されています。 もう気が付いていらっしゃる方もおいででしょうが…このワインを造っているのは、 シャンパーニュ地方、アンボネー村を代表する有機栽培の蔵元「アンドレ・ボーフォール」家の息子さん。 偉大なジャック氏の3番目の息子であるカンタン氏が、2007年に妻のアリスさんと創立したドメーヌなのです。 祖父のアンドレ氏の時から昔ながらのブドウ栽培をしてきたメゾンに育ったカンタン氏は、その祖父、父から 受け継いだ精神を柱に土を大切にし、そして自分達が暮らす環境を傷つけない農業に日々努力しています。 農薬、除草剤など化学的なものを使用しないのはもちろん、 エッセンシャルオイルを使ったアロマテラピーによって病気を予防する栽培を行っています。 栽培面積は8.5ha。その内7haが日照に優れたすり鉢状の形をした立地。 そこで栽培されるピノ・ノワールとシャルドネが、このル・プティ・ボーフォールとなって届きました！ 微かにピンクを感じる色合いです！ グラスに注いだとたん、フレッシュな桃のような香りが部屋中に…！ グラスに注いだ時の泡をご覧ください!!! 繊細な泡のラインがツンツンと底から上がっている様は、まさにシャンパーニュの姿！ そのキラキラ泡はずーっと続き、やむことがありません。思わず「オオオーっ」と言ってしまったほどです。 洋ナシ、白桃、柑橘系の香りに鉱物系の香りも混じります。口に入れた時のクリーミーさにはニンマリ。 飲んだ後にレモンの皮あのような風味。1杯目はちょっぴり酵母を感じる穀類系の風味に果実。 ところが！ 2杯目から果実が前面に表れてふんだんな果実味を感じていただけます。舌に残る苦みと辛みが魅力的！ ただ、あと1，2年熟成が長かったら…なんて贅沢な味わいを想像した私でしたが、 この価格であと1，2年の熟成なんて、虫が良すぎますよねェ。。 シャンパーニュとは呼べませんが、プティ・シャンパーニュと私は呼びたいと思います。 しっかりと時間をかけて、ゆっくりと味わって頂きたいワインです。 厳しい選果の後ブドウを圧搾。清澄した果汁を4年以上の古樽に入れて、アルコール発酵と熟成に約1年。 2011年10月にビン詰めして二次発酵。デゴルジュマンの時にノンドザージュで仕上げています。 |
