Champagne Fleury : Champagne producer in biodynamics

01/12

Winegrower

Winegrower Courteron

Champagne Fleury

Champagne producer in biodynamics

In this hundred-year-old family House, now famous for its biodynamic vineyard, each generation made a contribution. In 1901, Emile, first nurseryman of the department, planted grafted Pinot Noir on his lands devastated by phylloxera. It was risky …! In 1929 his son Robert was one of the first wine growers of the Côte des Bars to make Champagne with his harvest.

In 1970, his grandson Jean-Pierre, 23, is invited by his father to help him at the domain. Follower of alternative medicine and nature conservation, the young man, loyal to his convictions, fights as soon as he arrives in the vineyard to stop the soil spoiling. His practices go far beyond reasoned viticulture used in the region. In 1989 he decides to leave a clean land for his six children … To succeed, he converts his entire vineyard,

i.e. fifteen hectares, in biodynamics (Demeter certification).

By adapting to the viticulture of Champagne this farming method created in the beginning of the last century by Rudolf Steiner, disciple of Goethe, Jean-Pierre Fleury was seen as a pioneer!

Biodynamics favour the chain of life of the land's microorganisms and the subtle influences of the cosmos to optimize the perception of the terroir. Jean-Pierre nourishes the soil with natural compost as a fertilizer. And works the kimmeridgian soils, clay and limestone from the Côte des Bars, by aerating them and weeding them mechanically so that the roots of the plants plunge very deeply in the ground to extract the mineral salts, source of taste. Instead of chemical treatments, he uses natural teas, copper sulfates and rock dust for example. On the leaves, he sprays quartz silica to reinforce the photosynthesis and on the ground, preparations that favour the microbial life, in spring and in autumn, at specific cosmic moments determined by a planetary calendar. “This method, the Chairman confides, forces the wine grower to go every day in the vineyard, observe it, and smell the earth.” He now teaches this science of the living to young enthusiastic wine growers. It also seduced three of his children who joined the House: Benoît, wine grower, Jean-Sébastien, in charge of the cellars, and Morgane, sommelier and consultant, graduate from Suze-la-Rousse, in charge of the marketing and the export relations.
In the Côte des Bars, biodynamics found fans: one of his employees in the cellar and one of his wine growers adopted this innovating approach. By buying their grape, the House Fleury launches into trade in 1996 and doubles its sales from 100,000 up to 200,000 bottles.
Innovative, Jean-Pierre Fleury, undoubtedly the prince of biodynamics, also remains much attached to tradition. At Fleury's, the Coquard press slowly turns to get the best expression of the ripe grape. The maturation of the reserve wines is done under wood in 60-hectoliter oak tuns to enrich them with vanilla flavours. All his vintage wines do not age in the cellar with a cap but with a cork and a metal clip from the bottle fermentation as the exchanges between the cork and the wine bring a great complexity.

All along the process, this jolly producer is very humble towards Mother Nature and questions himself every day to do better, to make a tastier wine. His efforts are awarded by trophies, gold medals and good marks given by important fairs, serious guides like Bettane et Desseauve or the Revue des Vins de France to mention only them in France, but also the guide Parker in the USA, the magazine Decanter in the United Kingdom. His pride: the International Wine Challenge in Biodynamics Trophy won in London in 2011.
The Europe's best tables snap up his bottles because he works like a tailor and offers made-to-measure Champagnes to the great sommeliers that can choose the dosage while ordering. An example: the vintage 1995 of anthology is marketed
in Brut, Extra Brut and Doux. To get absolutely!
MC Bourrellis
Crédit photo: Didier Guy-Atelier Trinité Photo