Even products authorized for use against powdery mildew and downy mildew — sulfur and copper sulfate — were not granted access; instead, the vines were treated with aromatherapy and became a microcosm for all living organisms once again. As compost, the estate uses its own, a plant-based compost mixed with, among other things, crushed bone marrow from the butcher and blood meal! This is how the healthiest vines and the quintessential natural wine are born — wild, alive, and never possessing a single face. It involves Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the limestone soils of Ambonnay — in a cold, dry, and windy climate — and from Polisot, 40 km southeast of Troyes, where these same varieties thrive on clay soil, still in a cold climate but this time humid, requiring more work, but where the grapes gain in finesse and electric, fresh acidity. Yields are lower and the grapes firmer, and from the very first stages of winemaking, sulfur is avoided as much as possible. The size (the second press) is only used for base wines — the cuvée (the first press) is reserved for vintage wines, the wines meant for aging. Alcoholic fermentation is triggered by indigenous yeasts, in stainless steel tanks or oak barrels of a certain size.
Malolactic fermentation is inevitable due to the low or absent levels of sulfur; afterwards, nothing is done to "mask" the wine. Grape juice is added for the secondary fermentation in the bottle, riddling is done by hand, and the final disgorgement is also performed by hand, in the traditional "à la volée" style. Both the time spent on lees and the time after disgorgement are desired to be long — that is where they gain in aromatics. Beaufort has always liked sugar, so Bruts, Demi-Secs, and even Doux are produced, the latter having become rare as the market for them has disappeared. The estate itself likes to distinguish the two types of bubbles as follows: Ambonnay are wines for meditation — those from Polisot are wines for action!"
