- Max Allen
- Life & Luxury
- Food & Wine
Two Australians walked into a French cellar, and this happened
Leanne De Bortoli and Steve Webber arrived unannounced on Charles Fourny’s doorstep 10 years ago, with the result his fine bubbly is available Down Under today.
A little over a decade ago, Charles Fourny was working in his office at the family champagne cellars in Vertus when his secretary knocked on his door and said there were two Australian visitors outside.
“People often turn up when I have no time,” says Fourny. “But I said to myself: these visitors have come from so far away; I cannot say no.”
Brothers Emmanuel and Charles Fourny in the family vineyard in Vertus, France.
So, he went out and greeted the couple, and soon realised they were not your average wine tourists. They kept asking questions about how he and his brother Emmanuel – fifth-generation growers – made their champagne. At the time, the Fournys were in the process of building a new winery: the Australians seemed particularly keen to check out the construction. They were also very keen to taste all the wines in the company’s portfolio.
“And after two hours, they said to me, ‘We are not here by accident’,” Fourny recalls. “They told me they were touring Champagne, with a list of recommended growers, looking for a producer to import to Australia.”
The couple were Leanne De Bortoli and Steve Webber, of the De Bortoli winery in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. Fourny was familiar with the name; through his Japanese importer he had come across De Bortoli Noble One, the botrytis semillon first produced by Leanne’s brother Darren in the early 1980s and now considered a classic sweet wine. So, a couple of weeks later, when De Bortoli and Webber made Fourny an offer to become his Australian importers, he said yes.
Leanne De Bortoli at the De Bortoli Winery in the Yarra Valley in Victoria. Jesse Marlow
Part of the attraction of the champagnes of Veuve Fourny & Fils, and one of the reasons why Leanne and Steve chose the brand, is the fact that, as well as being excellent quality, they are also well-priced. When I last recommended the non-vintage Veuve Fourny Blanc de Blancs in The Australian Financial Review in 2019, for example, I said it was not only “an exquisite example of the blanc de blancs champagne style” but also “at this price ($65 – but I’ve seen it as low as $55 online), exceptional value”.
The prices have crept up since then thanks in part, says Fourny, to rising costs, supply chain pressures, interest rate rises, etc. I would argue that, given the quality, and scale of the operation, they still offer very good-value drinking.
The Fourny family grows and sources grapes from vineyards solely classified Premier Cru or Grand Cru, unlike other, more well-known champagne brands whose non-vintage wines sit around the $80 mark.
And while the family’s production is a healthy 250,000 bottles a year, this is still small-scale compared to, say, Moët & Chandon (a staggering 30 million bottles per annum).
When I catch up with Charles Fourny on a recent visit to Australia, we talk about value.
The Champagne Veuve vineyard in Vertus.
“Reasonable price is our policy,” he says. “You know, we are first [a family of] growers. And since Emmanuel and I took over the company in 1993, we believe you need to produce an excellent value for the quality. If you’re too pretentious, and you want to increase price, but you don’t have any objective reason, you will fail in the end.”
Fourny also says he has no regrets about saying yes to those two visiting Australians in 2011.
“We have a good connection now between our own families,” he says. “Steve and Leanne visited us at my home in May this year with their daughters. And I spent last Sunday in the Yarra Valley with all their family. They show great hospitality. I’m very happy with the relationship.”
So are we, M. Fourny, so are we.
Tasting Veuve Fourny & Fils
Champagne Vve. Fourny & Fils Grands Terroirs [Vertus]
Eighty per cent chardonnay, 20 per cent pinot noir, all from Premier and Grand Cru sites; blend includes 50 per cent reserve wines, mostly aged in smaller barrels. “This gives a certain creamy texture to the wine,” says Charles Fourny, “to balance the mineral tension from the terroir.” This is a lovely, vinous champagne – by which I mean it’s a wine, first, that also happens to be fizzy. Gorgeous Mirabelle plum aromatics, dry at first, mouth-filling, and finishes with a touch of fruitiness. $80
Champagne Vve. Fourny & Fils Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut [Vertus]
The wine that first turned me on to Veuve Fourny, and still a benchmark: this is the one I choose when I want to show someone what good blanc de blanc champagne is. Bright and citrussy – but more the dense, white pith of a lemon than the oily zest – with a lovely fine line along the tongue of slightly saline, savoury chalkiness. $80
Champagne Vve. Fourny & Fils Cuvée R [Vertus]
This blanc de blancs is named after Charles’ father, Roger, who first studied the differences between various plots of vines and selected the ones he wanted to use in his wines. A blend of two vintages (this is 2014 and 2015), aged for 18 months in oak cask before secondary ferment in the bottle; four years on lees before disgorging, and very low (two or three grams) dosage. Very complex, rewarding champagne, with great fruit intensity – like candied citron – and layers of savoury characters, with a lovely, almost bready yeastiness. Fourny describes this as a “gastronomic” champagne and likes to drink it with truffle risotto. $120
Imported by debortoli.com.au
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