CHAMPAGNE
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WELCOME TO GROWER CHAMPAGNE
The Champagne region in France is dominated by a handful of brand names. These négoçiants and coopératives produce 80% of the total output in Champagne, yet they own only 12% of the vineyards. They may, by law, purchase as much of their grapes or pressed juice or already made sparkling wine (known as sur-lattes) as they wish from all over the region. These enormous facilities bring to market a mass-produced commodity—the most successful processed agricultural product in human history—a Champagne made in a “house style.” This is sparkling wine made in a highly interventionist and formulaic way with swift pressing, extensive use of chaptalization, acidification, cultured yeast strains, enzymes, nitrogenous yeast nutrients and rapid temperature controlled fermentations, which amounts to millions of cases annually. |
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By contrast, small growers, or “récoltant-manipulants,” handcraft their limited quantities of Champagne from individual villages and parcels where the inherent qualities of the vineyards imprint themselves into the wines. These winemakers are brave souls in an industrialized age: growing, vinifying and bottling their own Champagne and offering it to the world as their life’s work.
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“The best wines are those that take you through themselves and out into another world that you could not have gotten to on your own. Great wine has a strange subterranean current of beauty. It is not something you can summon from a wine; but a great wine can take you there.” |
REGIONS OF CHAMPAGNE
Champagne is one AOC, one of the largest AOCs in France at 34,000 hectares that contains over 300 villages. It is France’s most northern viticultural area, where—were it not for good drainage and chalky subsoil, some slopes and outcroppings of chalk—mostly sugar beets and wheat would grow. Champagne is divided into five sub-regions: the Côte des Blancs, the Vallée de la Marne, the Montagne de Reims, the Côte des Bars (the Aube), and the Côte de Sézanne. All of Champagne sits upon the geological formation known as the Paris Basin which stretches from Normandy to the Rhine River in Germany. The basin is filled with Jurassic sediment and then Cretaceous chalk. The Cretaceous chalk is key to Champagne’s terroir.
Champagne is one AOC, one of the largest AOCs in France at 34,000 hectares that contains over 300 villages. It is France’s most northern viticultural area, where—were it not for good drainage and chalky subsoil, some slopes and outcroppings of chalk—mostly sugar beets and wheat would grow. Champagne is divided into five sub-regions: the Côte des Blancs, the Vallée de la Marne, the Montagne de Reims, the Côte des Bars (the Aube), and the Côte de Sézanne. All of Champagne sits upon the geological formation known as the Paris Basin which stretches from Normandy to the Rhine River in Germany. The basin is filled with Jurassic sediment and then Cretaceous chalk. The Cretaceous chalk is key to Champagne’s terroir.
THREE MAJOR SUB REGIONS
Côte des Blancs
PURITY SALINITY RIPE LEMON CITRUS HIGH-TONE CRISP FRESH CLASSIC LASER FOCUSED |
Montagne de Reims
DIVERSE COMPLEX LEMON CURD MOUNTAIN INFLUENCE VARIETY OF SOIL VARIETY OF TERROIR VARIETY OF GRAPES VARIETY OF STYLE |
Vallée de la Marne
RIPE SUN-DRENCHED RED FRUIT JUICY RIVER INFLUENCE RICH FOOD-FRIENDLY VERSATILE |
VINTAGE REVIEWS
2013:
The weather conditions in 2013 allowed the grapes to ripen slowly and evenly, resulting in overall good alcohol percentages, great acidity and low pH’s. These conditions are excellent to make age-worthy wines.
2012:
An exceptional vintage in Champagne. Despite low yields thanks to frost, hail and disease early in the season, August saw conditions improve dramatically resulting in exemplary maturity, acidity and grape health at harvest. An outstanding but small crop of Pinot Noir was the best since 1952.
2009:
A warm, generous year: poised, round yet elegant, with the grapes in perfect health. The best wines are those picked later for phenolic maturity and added complexity.
2008:
Vivid, well-structured wines in a classic style, with fine textural finesse; potentially long-lived.
2013:
The weather conditions in 2013 allowed the grapes to ripen slowly and evenly, resulting in overall good alcohol percentages, great acidity and low pH’s. These conditions are excellent to make age-worthy wines.
2012:
An exceptional vintage in Champagne. Despite low yields thanks to frost, hail and disease early in the season, August saw conditions improve dramatically resulting in exemplary maturity, acidity and grape health at harvest. An outstanding but small crop of Pinot Noir was the best since 1952.
2009:
A warm, generous year: poised, round yet elegant, with the grapes in perfect health. The best wines are those picked later for phenolic maturity and added complexity.
2008:
Vivid, well-structured wines in a classic style, with fine textural finesse; potentially long-lived.
FOCUS WINES
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Aubry Brut
Chartogne Taillet Cuvee Ste. Anne Denis Chaput Mesogee Brut NV Gaston Chiquet Tradition Geoffroy Expression Geoffroy Rosé de Saignee Goutorbe Cuvee Prestige |
Hebrart Cuvée de Reserve
Henri Billiot Brut Rosé Jeanaux-Robin Eclats Extra Brut Lalemment Brut Reserve Michell Mailliard Cuvee Gregory Brut Moussé Fils l’Or Eugene Mouzon Leroux L’Atavique |
Pierre Gimmonet Cuvée Fleuron
Pierre Gimmonet Special Club 2012 Pierre Gimmonet Blanc de Blancs Pierre Peters Cuvee de Res BDB Vilmart Grand Cellier 1st Cru Waris Hubert Amorial Blanc de Noirs |