The House Françoise BEDEL & Fils, owner - harvester, cultivates 8 hectares 40 of vines aged from 30 to 60 years.
The parcels are distributed on both sides of the Marne, Crouttes-Sur-Marne, Nanteuil-Sur-Marne, Charly-Sur-Marne, and Villiers-Saint-Denis.
The plots have different subsoils, which allows us to make blends according to the Terroirs and to elaborate 'Terroir' cuvées. The champagnes are the expression of a rigorous method that brings out and enhances the qualities and particularities of the earth, the vines and the fruit.
Because I love plants, life in contact with nature, and passing on to the next generations a healthy land, I cultivate my vineyard in Bio dynamie since 1998 on the totality of the Domain.
The champagne house Françoise Bedel
Soil preparation Champagne Bedel
The Bio-Dynamic compost contains the different preparations elaborated from : Yarrow ( 502) Chamomile ( 503) Nettle ( 504) Oak bark ( 505) Dandelion ( 506) Valerian ( 507) which are used for seeding in order to transmit the influence of the plants.
This compost is spread in the fall followed by a scribbling with the preparation "Maria Thun" (see Biodynamic Agriculture).
The soil wakes up at the spring equinox on March 21 and goes back to sleep
It is at this time that we will oxygenate the soil to feed the bacterial life: Scratching, Butage and Debudding.
Organic dynamic agriculture is above all a work of care of the earth to ensure its balance that it transmits to the plant in harmony with its environment.
It is a matter of encouraging exchanges between the soil and the root and foliar system of the vine in order to allow the full expression of the terroir in the grapes.
Vinification Champagne Bedel
A part of the harvest is vinified in oak barrels to reinforce the richness of the fractions and the aromatic complexity. The other part is vinified in small enamelled vats to enhance the purity of the terroirs. The content of each vat is clearly identified by the name of the plot of land and the racking is done in the conditions that are appropriate to Maria THUN's lunar calendar.
The first fermentation (or alcoholic fermentation) takes place. The yeasts are selected by Françoise BEDEL from yeasts naturally present in her grapes. These yeasts "eat" the sugar and produce alcohol and carbon dioxide, as well as other components that build the sensory characteristics of the wine.
Like a painter chooses his pigments. Like a composer writes a symphony where different instruments blend together. Like a florist imagines a bouquet by associating shapes and colors. Like a nose creates a perfume of essences coming from the four corners of the world. Françoise BEDEL assembles these different wines to create each time another vintage.
From tasting to tasting, they are memorized, as are the reserve wines that will make up the future blend. Tasting calls upon the senses: Sight appreciates the color of the wine, smell perceives the fruity, floral, woody or spicy notes of the aromas, and taste senses the fleshiness, fatness, vinosity, finesse or lightness.