Les Murgiers Brut Nature, NV

In 2009, Raymond Boulard’s three children decided to follow their own professional paths. The Raymond Boulard Champagne House ceased to exist therefore. Francis Boulard, his wife Jeanne and daughter Delphine started the house called Champagne Francis Boulard & Fille. For many years, Francis Boulard pushed the Raymond Boulard family estate towards organic methods; hence it is that some of their parcels were already converted and certified to be organic. With his daughter Delphine, he can now take this movement towards the most natural champagne wines possible to its logical conclusion. Their goal is to see the whole estate certified organic. Francis Boulard and his daughter Delphine belong to a family of winegrowing winemakers for 6 generations… doubtless more. The oldest member of the family who could be traced was born during the French Revolution in 1792. Francis Boulard’s first contact with wines came about thanks to his grandfather, Julian: at 14, the young Francis was given permission to hold the handles of the plough behind Bijou the horse, a sturdy Ardennes horse. His grandfather was in fact one of the last to resist the galloping mechanisation which followed the end of WW II, still using a horse to plough his 2 hectares (5 acres) of vines. Julien Boulard sold his still wines to champagne houses. It was his son, Raymond Boulard who decided to vinify and bottle champagne in 1952. In the 70s, the young Francis joined the company Boulard Frères and very soon afterwards (1975) was made responsible for vinification. The champagne house Raymond Boulard & Fils was founded in 1980. After the death of their father, his three children continued running the family estate together. Francis Boulard, while still continuing with the vinification, became ever increasingly interested in viticulture. Wanting to move towards vines that were grown as naturally as possible, he pushed the estate towards organic methods, resulting in the conversion in the 2000s of a proportion of the vineyards towards organic agriculture.