Charles Dufour & Françoise Martinot 'Françoise II' 2013 Champagne 750ml

Made only every three years and sized to Françoise Martinot's own taste, FF.13 is a 2013 Les Copies Pinot Noir disgorged in April 2022 with nothing added.

The fruit is Pinot Noir from the lieu-dit Les Copies in Chervey, a village in the Vallée de l'Arce one valley over from Charles Dufour's own base in Landreville, on clay-limestone Kimmeridgian soil from vines older than twenty years. Nouvelles Sélections, the Japanese importer, records the 2013 crop at 76 hl/ha, the harvest used at 100 percent, and a split fermentation, half in stainless steel and half in 400-litre barrels, followed by twelve months on the lees before tirage. Sager + Wine, the UK importer, adds that the must fermented spontaneously, that the bottles were disgorged in April 2022 without dosage, and that no sulphur was added at any stage; the Belgian merchant Octopus puts the time on lees at seven and a half years, while the Japanese sheet counts more than ten years in bottle by release.

Françoise² is the rarest line under the Françoise Martinot name. Sager + Wine describes the FF cuvées as made only every three years as a snapshot of Françoise's personal drinking preferences: a lighter sparkling wine, lower in alcohol, with less pressure. The name on the bottle is hers twice over; the importer writes it Françoise Françoise, and the label prints FRANÇOISE with a small superscript two. Françoise Martinot-Dufour is Charles Dufour's mother and the récoltant-manipulant of record, with 3.5 hectares of Pinot Noir in Chervey and Neuville-sur-Seine certified organic and biodynamic by Ecocert since 2010, though the farming and winemaking are in practice her son's. Speaking to Little Wine in 2020, Charles credited her with pushing the family into organics: she was all-in, he said, having decided they needed to farm by the same philosophies they held for eating and looking after themselves.

In the glass

Sager + Wine's note on FF.13 reads tension between electric energy and savoury undertones, with oatmeal, dried lemon peel, sage and toast. Both importers list the wine as a Brut Nature blanc de noirs with no dosage to soften the finish, and Sager + Wine gives the alcohol as 11 percent, a point below the figure in Japanese retail listings, so we leave alcohol off the table below.

When to open

Octopus Sparkling Wines serves it at 10 to 12 °C; Sager + Wine notes the FF wines are designed to be appreciated at room temperature, so let it warm in the glass. Disgorged April 2022, it is ready now; further cellaring is our suggestion only.

At the table

Our suggestion: a dosage-free blanc de noirs with this much lees age suits roast poultry, aged Comté or a mushroom risotto.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from the Japanese importer.

Sources: Nouvelles Sélections (Japanese importer, web and PDF); Sager + Wine (UK importer); Octopus Sparkling Wines; 代官山ワインサロン Le・luxe; Little Wine (A. Robinson & C. Rasmussen, 2020); label photo