Wine Journey
Robert Dufour The Ballad of the Village Brut Nature 2004
Robert Dufour The Ballad of the Village Brut Nature 2004
Butterscotch, honey, apples. Complex and long on the finish, due to lengthy ageing on the lees.
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A vintage champagne that bespeaks Charles’ premier vintage of 2004, when he worked alongside Robert, his father, at the family holdings for the first and last year before taking over the estate. The wine is disgorged in 2022, the year of Robert’s passing. As suggested in the cuvée name, the Pinot Noir grapes are derived from the villages in which they worked.
Cepage: Pinot Noir (majority), Pinot Blanc
Region: Landreville, Chervey, Neuville-sur-Seine, Celles-sur-Orce (Champs du Clot)
Dosage: Brut Nature
Alcohol: 12%
About The Producer
Charles Dufour, hailing from Landrevilee, Aube (within proximity to Bar-sur-Seine), embodies a new generation of small vignerons who emerge as Champagne brands of the highest profile. After starting out in the family business in 2006, Charles began a drastic conversion of vineyard to biological, with the final process coming to fruition from the 2010 harvest. All the grapes for the new production line since Charles Dufour – Les Vignes du 7 are therefore strictly certified. On the other hand, the synthetic chemical elimination in the vineyard is not the only demonstration of the purist in Charles.
Being certified organic is particularly difficult in Champagne due to the enigmatic climate of rain and cold weather. Yet, Charles has managed to create the most natural wines full of artisan imprint. Charles not only works on grapes organically but also uses natural yeast - a difficult feat in sparkling wine production. Most of Dufour’s Pinot Blanc goes into blend “Bulles de Comptoir”. In 2011, he siphoned some to make “Le Champ du Clos” - a series of entirely varietals, which has since become a flagship of Charles Dufour. No oak is used so the cuvée maintains a very pure, mineral-based expression of citrus and dried herbs.
Charles Dufour represents a new wave of wine makers who are willing to push the frontiers of pure wine making. Dufour creates terroir-centric wine making reflecting each lieu-dit with minimal treatment in vinification (no dosage, fining, filtration, biodynamic and organic).
