Champagne François Diligent

François Diligent was born in Buxeuil in 1904. His family were winegrowers so, at a very young age, he began working with his father who, at the time, sold all his clear wine to merchants in Champagne. He soon developed a taste for wine but also for working in the vineyard. Through his training as a cooper he discovered the potential of Champagne aged in barrels. In 1927, he took over his father’s four hectares of vines which he called his “garden”.

Throughout his life he would never add to this land which he felt was an ideal size for a “winegrower-labourer”. However, François Diligent constantly experimented with the plot; Chasselas, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Petit Meslier, Arbane, Melon, Auxerrois, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris – each of these grape varieties would be picked by hand and pressed separately in a traditional press. He used wild yeasts, the technique of blocked malolactic fermentation, made and aged his wines in barrel, matured them in heavy necked bottles sealed with natural cork, and practised ultra-low dosage for his Brut Nature.

In addition to his vision, François Diligent liked precision; each of the stages of his wine was closely monitored with the greatest attention paid to every detail. Before he died in 1974 it was his desire to pass on his expertise, his vines and his cellar to a family that would perpetuate the same philosophy and ensure his name lived on. As Lucien Moutard’s son-in-law, he naturally chose the Moutard family to succeed him, and made them promise to continue to take care of this garden and carry out the same work of winegrower-labourer throughout the seasons. The grapes from the 2018 vintage will therefore have been pressed in the same 'Darcq Flamain’ press as those of the 1964 vintage of which François Diligent was so proud. The same methods, the same garden, the same massal selection.
Everything here, at this historic site at 24 Grande Rue in Buxeuil, is done to perpetuate the unique style of François Diligent which has become renowned amongst the great wines of Champagne.

With respect for François Diligent’s philosophy, and eager to maintain the quality and originality of his vineyard, we select grafts by cutting a shoot from certain vines. For Chasselas, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Petit Meslier, Arbane, Melon, Auxerrois, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, massal selections are the norm. Since 1927 this technique has enabled us to preserve a high quality of production, in the knowledge that the vineyard contains very old vines of great quality.

François Diligent always favoured freshness in his champagnes because he liked to enjoy them primarily as an aperitif. So very early on a Brut Nature champagne (with a dosage of 2g which, at the time, he called his Extra Brut) became self-evident for him. He loved the land and his rows of vines and chose to push maturity levels in his grapes to obtain a unique taste. Why then alter this taste with an overbearing dose of liqueur? Despite the great many people who at that time did not understand his choice, François Diligent never changed his mind. Each bottle of François Diligent produced today represents the BRUT NATURE spirit that he created in 1927.

Above all, François Diligent loved the aesthetics of the staple on his bottles. Using an artisanal and centuries-old technique – ageing in heavy necked bottles sealed with natural cork – that is still used to this day, the François Diligent champagnes show remarkable aromatic complexity from their earliest age. Matured exclusively on riddling racks and turned by hand, these bottles also reveal a delicate effervescence with very fine bubbles and a creamy texture.

Trained as a cooper, François Diligent always kept all his wines in large format casks. These oak casks enabled the wines to preserve their original, fruity aromas without being too heavily influenced by the wood, as might be the case with a barrel. Thanks to unique expertise, slow, natural, micro-oxygenation which is beneficial to the development of the wine, and extensive respiration of the wine facilitated by the oak, allow these champagnes to attain rare complexity.

Wild yeasts, blocked malolactic fermentation, winemaking and ageing in barrel, maturing in heavy necked bottles sealed with natural cork, and ultra-low dosage for the Brut Nature. While at first sight everything appears identical to other cuvees, “Collection” has three major differences: it is 100% Blanc de Blancs, always a vintage champagne and is not matured in heavy necked bottles sealed with natural cork. This is François Diligent’s vision of a great champagne which he only wanted to taste after a minimum 10 years and in which he wanted there to be both extraordinary complexity and incomparable freshness. These bottles are always disgorged on request and are the only ones in the range in which the dosage is selected by the person who buys them (delivered six months after disgorgement.)