DID YOU KNOW?
CHAMPAGNE VS SPARKLING WINE & METHODE VS OTHER METHODS All Champagne is Sparkling Wine, but not all Sparkling Wine is Champagne! Kinda like all Unicorns are mythical creatures, but not all mythical creatures are Unicorns! Wine can be made to sparkle in many ways:
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But REAL Champagne is only produced through a process called ‘Méthode Champenoise’ or ‘Traditional Method’:
WHAT IS GROWER CHAMPAGNE?
Grower Champagne, also affectionately known as ‘Farmer Fizz’, is a class of Champagne made by producers who produce wines from their very own grapes - from vineyards they own, vineyards they work within, vineyards they deeply respect.
Unlike the major Champagne ‘houses’ who rely largely on bought-in grapes and sometimes 1,000s of grapegrowing contracts to make their wines, Grower Champagne producers utilize their very own vineyard holdings year after year. Growers produce bubbly that really shows individuality because they are vinified in small quantities and are able to beautifully express a particular village, vineyard, vintage or style.
Often you will find Grower Champagne made with grapes from Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages -- the same top villages used to make Dom Perignon and other prestige bottlings – but Growers sell their prestige bottlings at much lower prices than the big Champagne houses.
When you buy Grower Champagne you aren’t subsidizing the multi-million dollar marketing budgets of the big Champagne houses, you are instead purchasing an authentic product from a highly skilled producer whose heart and soul goes into the bottle – these people making Grower Champagne are known as Recoltant-Manipulants, or grower-producers…
RECOLTANT-MANIPULANT
A special class of Champagne producer who makes and markets Champagne under their own label, made from grapes exclusively sourced from their own vineyards and processed on their own premises. These Grower Champagnes can be identified on their labels by the tiny letters ‘RM’ followed by a set of numbers.
- A base wine is placed into the very same bottle you eventually buy off the shelf
- Small amounts of yeast, sugar, and nutrients are added to your bottle to create bubbles during what is called a ‘second fermentation’
- After second fermentation, non-vintages Champagne rests in your bottle on its expired yeast for at least 12 months (or at least 36 months for vintage Champagne) to create toasty/nutty/bready flavors and become more complex
- The expired yeast is expelled from your bottle, a cork and cage are added to the top, and your bottle is released from the winery for sale!
WHAT IS GROWER CHAMPAGNE?
Grower Champagne, also affectionately known as ‘Farmer Fizz’, is a class of Champagne made by producers who produce wines from their very own grapes - from vineyards they own, vineyards they work within, vineyards they deeply respect.
Unlike the major Champagne ‘houses’ who rely largely on bought-in grapes and sometimes 1,000s of grapegrowing contracts to make their wines, Grower Champagne producers utilize their very own vineyard holdings year after year. Growers produce bubbly that really shows individuality because they are vinified in small quantities and are able to beautifully express a particular village, vineyard, vintage or style.
Often you will find Grower Champagne made with grapes from Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages -- the same top villages used to make Dom Perignon and other prestige bottlings – but Growers sell their prestige bottlings at much lower prices than the big Champagne houses.
When you buy Grower Champagne you aren’t subsidizing the multi-million dollar marketing budgets of the big Champagne houses, you are instead purchasing an authentic product from a highly skilled producer whose heart and soul goes into the bottle – these people making Grower Champagne are known as Recoltant-Manipulants, or grower-producers…
RECOLTANT-MANIPULANT
A special class of Champagne producer who makes and markets Champagne under their own label, made from grapes exclusively sourced from their own vineyards and processed on their own premises. These Grower Champagnes can be identified on their labels by the tiny letters ‘RM’ followed by a set of numbers.
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