To eat well, one must understand the passage of the seasons. Throughout the world, the four seasons have traditionally had a sizeable impact on how our food is grown and cultivated. However, with the advent of refrigeration, broad acre farming, the use of chemicals and growth hormones to promote crop size and ripening and international shipping, the reliance on seasonality is being eroded. Bress hold the belief that this modernization of food is not a healthy thing. Bress promote and embrace the consumption of products that are grown and harvested fresh according to seasonality.
Biodynamic practices are used around the winery. Grapes are picked according to the moon phase. Natural yeast is used to conduct all fermentations. To avoid the use of artificial yeast supplements, all fermentations are conducted with 100 percent juice solids. All wines are racked on the moon phase when the moon is in opposition. This greatly reduces reliance on filtration, so much so that Bress red wines are no longer filtered. Cooperage at Bress include Bousset for Semillon, Marsanny, Dargaud et Jaegle and Siruge to the Chardonnay, Francois Freres, Dargaud et Jaegle and Siruge for Pinot Noir, Nadalie and Francois Freres for the Shiraz. All wines are bottled at the winery using a portable bottling line.
Bress use the same biodynamic principles applied to viticulture in the growing and making of ciders. Bress ciders are made from a blend of cider apples, Perry pears, which are the pear equivalent of the cider apple and pink lady apples. After the apples and pears have been milled and basket pressed, they are fermented at low temperatures (12-16 degrees) for up to four weeks until they are dry. Post fermentation, the different varieties are appraised and blended. This blend is then tiraged. Tiraging is the addition of sugar and yeast to the base cider, which is then bottled. Second fermentation occurs in the bottle. It is this fermentation that gives the cider it fizz. After at least six months on lees the cider is then riddled using the traditional methode champenoise technique and then disgorged. Two ciders are produced, Crut which is a dry style and Bon Bon, which is a sweeter style.