Bordeaux, France: Chateau Falfas

Château Falfas is a Biodynamic estate vineyard and winery in the Côtes de Bourg AOC on the right bank of the Bordeaux region. It was bought in 1989 by John Cochran, an American lawyer based in Paris, and his wife Véronique. They converted Falfas to Biodynamic practices (certified by the Syndicat International des Vignerons en Culture Bio-Dynamique or SIVCBD). Falfas has been certified Biodynamic to the Demeter Biodynamic standard since 1989. It is a founder member the SIVCBD, France’s first group of certified Biodynamic wine-growers, and whose logo is “Biodyvin”. This is traditional in the best sense, with hand picking, fermentation in small cement vats after a short cold maceration, pressing in a manually operated vertical wooden basket press and ageing in barrels for a proportion of the blend. Some reserve wines are also kept back, in large oval-shaped oak foudres, allowing the tannins to soften so that these lots can be added to the main blend in small proportions as a seasoning.