Charles Dufour & Françoise Martinot 'Bistrotage' Rosé B.11 Affinage Prolongé Champagne 750ml

The importer's spec line reads more than ten years in bottle and zero dosage: a 2011-base rosé Charles Dufour held far longer than the first release.

Françoise Martinot is the name of Charles Dufour's mother, and the estate is registered in her name. The family holds 3.5 hectares of Pinot Noir in Chervey and Neuville-sur-Seine in the Aube, farmed organically and biodynamically with Ecocert certification since 2010, the same year the Dufour vines in Landreville were certified. Charles does the farming and the winemaking himself, and the Bistrotage brand was formally launched in 2019, according to Nouvelles Sélections, the Japanese importer. DG Red Wine adds that the Chervey sites sit in a slightly warmer pocket than Landreville, and that it was Françoise who pushed the conversion to organic farming and who likes her Champagne marked by yeast.

This is an assembled rosé rather than a saignée. The importer gives the recipe: 90 percent Pinot Noir base wine from Chervey, 10 percent still red Pinot Noir from Neuville-sur-Seine, from vines over 20 years old on clay-limestone Kimmeridgian soil, picked at 40 hl/ha. The base is 90 percent 2011 and 10 percent 2010. Half fermented in stainless steel and half in 400-litre barrels, it then spent 36 months on its lees, followed by more than ten years in bottle before release, with no dosage. Nouvelles Sélections translates Affinage Prolongé as extended finishing, and the comparison with the first B.11 Rosé makes the point: that version saw nine months on lees and five-plus years in bottle, so this bottle is the same blend held roughly twice as long.

Coeur Wine Co, the US importer, notes that the Bistrøtage wines are made with no added sulphur and no dosage; the Japanese importer records malolactic fermentation and hand riddling. The estate's motto, as quoted by Nouvelles Sélections: dire ce qu'on fait et faire ce qu'on dit, say what you do, do what you say.

In the glass

No critic review of this release has been found, so we rely on the trade. DG Red Wine describes the Françoise Martinot style as lively acidity with a yeasty, ripe-fruit character, fine perlage and a long finish, and credits Françoise's own taste for yeast-driven Champagne. Lebendigeweine lists the wine as Extra Brut; with zero dosage after a decade on lees, expect the autolytic side to lead rather than primary red fruit.

When to open

Lebendigeweine recommends serving at 6–8 °C. Our suggestion: it was released only after ten-plus years in bottle, so open it now or over the next few years; no decanting needed.

At the table

Our suggestion: roast duck, aged Comté, or a charcuterie board, matching the yeast-led, dosage-free profile the trade describes.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from the Japanese importer.

Sources: Nouvelles Sélections (Japanese importer); Coeur Wine Co (US importer); DG Red Wine; Lebendigeweine; 代官山ワインサロン Le・luxe