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Françoise Bedel
Vallée de la Marne, France11 wines4.3 avg
Biodynamic Champagne grower at the far western edge of the region - Meunier-dominant, aged six years on lees, made out of one family's decision to listen to the land.
Françoise Bedel runs her family's estate in Crouttes-sur-Marne - the last Champagne village before you leave the region and drift toward Paris, at the far western end of the Vallée de la Marne. She took over her part of the family holdings in 1979, and for twenty years farmed more or less the way everyone else around her did. The shift came in the late 1990s, and it came through her son Vincent Desaubeau. He had been seriously ill as a child; conventional medicine hadn't helped, homeopathy had, and something in the logic carried over to the vineyard. Françoise started reading Steiner and around 1998 began converting the estate to biodynamics. Ecocert (organic) certification came in 2001, Demeter (biodynamic) in 2006. Vincent joined the domaine in 2003 and now co-runs it.
About 8.4 hectares, spread across Crouttes-sur-Marne, Nanteuil-sur-Marne, Charly-sur-Marne, and Villiers-Saint-Denis - clay-dominated soils with some limestone and gravel, at 100-200 metres. Plantings are heavily Meunier (~78%), with Chardonnay (~13%) and Pinot Noir (~9%) rounding out the blend. This is Meunier country - the clay suits it - and Bedel belongs to the small group of Champagne producers who take the grape seriously rather than treating it as filler.
In the cellar: slow, patient, biodynamic work. Long lees aging (often six years or more), low or zero dosage. The wines are textured and vinous, with a comfortable tolerance for oxygen - more Jura-adjacent than chalk-aesthetic Champagne.
The cuvées:
- Origin'elle Extra Brut - the entry, a Meunier-dominant NV
- Entre Ciel et Terre Brut - "between sky and earth," the flagship NV, Meunier-led
- Dis "Vin Secret" Extra Brut
- Comme Autrefois - "like before," vintage, mostly Meunier
- L'Âme de la Terre - "the soul of the earth," vintage, rarely made
- Jouvence - a newer vintage cuvée
Françoise is careful to distinguish low intervention from no intervention. She has been clear that biodynamics in Champagne is not a license to do nothing - the climate will punish anyone who tries.
Wines
4.5
Comme Autrefois
2005· France
Comme Autrefois
2006· France
4.3
Dis, "Vin Secret" (d2021)
NV (2017)· France
4.2
Entre Ciel & Terre (2013)
NV (2013)· France
4.2
Entre Ciel & Terre (2014)
NV (2013)· France
4.2
Entre Ciel & Terre (2017)
NV (2017)· France
4.5
Jouvence
2012· France
4.5
L'Âme de la Terre Millésime
2006· France
4.3
L'Âme de la Terre Millésime
2008· France
4.2
Origin'elle (2015)
NV (2015)· France
4.1
Origin'elle (2017)
NV (2017)· France