Champagne Bereche et Fils
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Country of Origin: France
Location: Ludes
People: Brothers Raphaël & Vincent Bérêche, Owners & Winemakers
Viticulture: Practicing Biodynamic
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Bérêche et Fils was founded in 1847. Yet, it has been the innovative work of brothers Raphaël and Vincent Bérêche that has made this one of the most talked about Champagne producers among France’s sommeliers, cavistes, and connoisseurs. With lavish praise from Peter Liem and Antonio Galloni, the same is beginning to happen the United States.
Building on a strong foundation of traditional Champagne making learned from their father Jean-Pierre, Raphaël and Vincent are two of the region’s most insatiably curious vignerons. To that end, their portfolio not only includes an extraordinarily vibrant NV Brut Réserve, but several micro-cuvées brilliantly conceived to express different aspects of terroir, vintage, and grape variety.
Key to the fantastic complexity of the Bérêche Champagnes are the number of different terroirs that make up the estate’s holdings. Their holdings can be found in Ludes, on the chalky Montagne de Reims; in Ormes in the Petite Montagne de Reims; and Mareuil le Port in the western Vallée de la Marne. These are augmented by small plots in Trépail on the eastern slope of the Montagne de Reims and, from 2012, the estate’s first grand cru site, a tiny parcel in Mailly. Raphaël and Vincent experiment tirelessly with the character of these very different terroirs, creating a range of cuvées prized for their originality. All the the wines are single vintage, except the NV Brut Réserve. They do not list the vintages on the label because they prefer not to deal with the CIVC. The CIVC is the committee who declares if this or that vintage deserves a “vintage” status.
To ensure that the soil and, consequently the fruit, is as healthy as possible, Bérêche stopped all use of chemical herbicides in 2003, returning to the manual working of their vineyards as in the past, and are moving toward biodynamic farming of all their parcels. Ten full-time employees tend the vines, an extraordinary number given that the estate’s holdings are only nine hectares. This ensures that the labor-intensive farming of each site is done perfectly.
In the cellar, they have focused on barrel fermentation for most of the cuvées. The wines age on their lees to increase richness and depth. Malolactic fermentation is avoided to balance the richness and depth of each wine with bright acidity. Recently, the Bérêche brothers have decided to use corks instead of crown caps for the second fermentation. In doing so, the young wine is exposed to low amounts of oxygen, which they think can help preserve its character and complexity as it ages. Jean-Pierre was a firm believer in cork, but it requires a lot of extra work—now that Raphaël and Vincent are working at the estate, it’s easier to accomplish. Finally, each bottle is disgorged by hand and minimally dosed to preserve the purity of its expression.