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Wine Description
The Story
Besserat de Bellefon’s concept and signature add new meaning to this Champagne wine: precise vinification and a careful blend from the various plots making up this estate enhance the unique flavour and crispness of the grapes.
Actively committed for many years to organic and biodynamic growing, our estate is involved in protecting our ecosystem and intends to respect the balance between terroir, plants and people. Cover crop growing between vines is controlled. Soil compaction is minimised. The soil is fed only with home-produced, high-quality organic compost (600 tonnes), without weedkiller and we choose to use an organic fertiliser to enrich the soil biology.
Terroir: Vallée de la Marne, Calcareous clay soil, Home-produced compost
Grape varieties: Chardonnay (10%), Pinot Noir (60%), Meunier (30%)
Age of vines: 37 years old on average
Wine Information
Grape harvest: from 03 to 10.10.2013
Tirage: 60,458 bottles on 07.04.2014
Total Acidity: 6,5 g/l
pH: 2,95
Dosage: < 3 g/l (Brut Nature)
Total SO2: 40 mg/l
Tasting notes: Slightly yellow copper-coloured robe, delicate and dense bubbles Intense and varied nose of fresh fruit and perfectly ripe. Initial notes of vine peach and red fruits. Notes of stewed fruit (apple-pear-cinnamon) and crystallised fruit (quince, mandarin orange). Overall it is complex and smooth. The attack phase is pleasantly intense with the characteristic elegance of 2013 vintage. Its minerality is in harmony with the terroir and the estate’s viticulture practices. The finish offers a remarkable salinity.
Food: Enjoy the crispness of this great Champagne as an aperitif with shrimps or prawns. It could also accompany grilled fish and marinated meat «a la plancha».
Vintage 2013
The Champagne harvest 2013– late, but potentially outstanding
It has been another strange year for Champagne, starting with a cold, wet winter, followed by a gloomy, chilly spring with a lot of rain. Vine development started two weeks behind the ten-year average, and never made up for that lost time.
Along the way came a hot dry summer, boosting fruit quality thanks to the most sunshine ever recorded in Champagne in July and August.
Rain came from 6 September onwards, which helped to fatten the berries - then fortunately stopped in time to allow good conditions for final ripening. Considering the lateness of the harvest, the weather this year was exceptionally good – almost summer-like with unusually warm temperatures and sunshine, and a wind from the east to help keep the grapes healthy.
It was a year of big differences in the timing of the harvest, with picking in the most precocious plots starting on 24 September and in the slower-ripening areas on 9 October. Most plots commenced harvesting in the first days of October – the latest start date seen in Champagne for two decades.
Bearing in mind the economic situation, Champagne's governing body has set the yield limit at 10,000 kilos per hectare. Most crus should achieve this yield, excepting only a few that were partially affected by millerandage (shot berries), hailstorms and botrytis.
An average potential alcohol of nearly 10% ABV and good acidity averaging around 8.5g H2SO4 per litre together suggest a promising balance for the eventual wine. The Champenois are already drawing favourable comparisons with the vintages of 1983, 1988 and 1998 – these too being the product of late harvests.