It takes a region to raise a wine

BY: JONATHAN GOUVEIA

Change is afoot in the French wine region of Champagne. It has been for some time now. For many years champagne has been a wine of strong branding and marketing, associated with celebratory events and not on par with other serious wines.A symbol of celebration. Often you would hear people say: Do you want wine or champagne? As a symbol, champagne has been more of a parody of its true self, and to the ideology of terroir; a real let down.

Discrediting The Public Image

Let me start by saying that I am far from the first to touch on this topic, and surely won’t be the last. I still however believe it is becoming increasingly relevant, and exactly why we will touch on later.

Champagne is pictured as a luxury product in the eyes of the public, created by a region with extraordinary Premier and Grand Cru villages. All the work is done manually, and they just love to show us the riddling and disgorgement being done by hand. The truth is that we are enchanted by big brands, great underground cellars carved in limestone, marketing schemes, and of course the ever so refreshing and playful bubbles. It doesn’t take a journalist to discover the fact that a producer like Moët & Chandon (the biggest) produces around 30 million bottles of Champagne each year. And now we are even hearing of the large maisons running out of wine? I mean, you have to be kidding me.

Don’t get me wrong, I admire the hard work and progressive mentality of the big brands, which has contributed greatly to the reputation of champagne as an exclusive and high-quality beverage. But I also do believe, that somewhere along the road the point got lost. Whilst sitting in their great mansions in Reims and Avenue de Champagne, the big maisons have successfully sold the artisanal idea to the public: Champagne is made with hard manual labor, and a touch of magic. Remember the great words from Pierre Pérignon? “Come quick, I am tasting the stars!”? The reality today, is that these big maisons are more of factories than artisanal producers, and to me, the evidence is in the glass.

REMOVING THE MAKE - UP

We are truly fortunate to be witnessing a real paradigm shift in Champagne. As a steady manifestation, the realization, that wine is made in the vineyard has dawned upon Champagne. While it is overdue, it has arrived, and there are many great names to thank for this. A whisper in the corner is becoming a regionwide movement. The growers of Champagne are not only taking greater care of the environment, with regulations initiated by the CIVC, but we are seeing an increased attention towards full physiological ripeness of the grapes. And to be fair, is this not the starting point of any great wine?

Most of us have firsthand experience with the rising prices in Burgundy. With the demand exceeding the supply manyfold, there is a void in the market, that someone better fill, quickly! So, what does that mean? Am I talking about red wine from Pinot Noir, and white wine from Chardonnay? Not necessarily.

The idea is more comprehensive. Most of the consumers, restaurateurs and sommeliers are drawn to Burgundy largely due to the ideology of terroir. The idea that Vosne-Romanée is velvety soft, that Chambolle-Musigny is light and floral, and that Meursault is rich and oaky (even if this may not be the truth anymore), and the important statement that they are all different. Now we need to start looking for terroir elsewhere to satisfy our romanticized idea, that the grapes taste of the place they are grown. This leads us to Champagne.

Not only are young Champagne grower-producers slowly removing the makeup of their wines, by reducing winemaking input, among those being chaptalization, enzymes, yeast additions, sulfur dioxide and sugar quantities for the liqueur d’expedition, but they are also shifting more focus towards tending their vines. We are fortunate to find ourselves in a cultural revolution, with the current generation rediscovering the land, and having the (pardon my French) cojones to challenge their parents in shifting this paradigm. The wines of Champagne are showing more character than ever, and an excellent example of this is the rise in production of the “Coteaux Champenois” category.

Directly From The Source

Now, lets get down to the facts based on a recent trip to Champagne. Our very first visit was with Frederic Savart. Frederic has for more than a decade now been known as a champion of terroir, with most of his expressions (if you know you know) coming from the premier cru village of Ecueil, in the Petit Montagne (de Reims). The Petit Montagne has long been overlooked, and simply categorized as the “Montagne de Reims”. Unique for its sandier soil, the wines here show a clear difference from the Montagne the Reims, both in terms of fruit character and texture. Ecueil has become a village of attention in recent years, not only thanks to Frederic, but also producers like Emmanuel Brochet, Gaspard Brochet, Lacourte-Godbillon and Nicolas Maillart. While the village is more known for their Pinot Noir wines trust me when I say the Chardonnays can leave the impression of great Burgundy. Frederic has long been tending the vineyards in all the right ways, with no chemical inputs, manual labor, low yields and late harvested grapes (compared to the norm). Frederic emphasized his recent necessity to act as a négociant, buying grapes for some of his blended wines, due to recent poor vintages in terms of quantity.

Perhaps the thing that struck me most during this inspiring visit - other than what I ex - pected from a producer of his reputation – was his fondness of a new toy: The wineglobe. The wineglobe is an aging vessel, shaped as a balloon or a pear thick in the bottom, made from a non-porous material; glass. Frederic was kind enough to present us with wines from the same vineyard, aged in both wineglobe (220L) and oak barrels. The intention from Frederic was clear; the expression of terroir, removing the make up from the oak. With exceptional producers you often encounter one of two mindsets: Either the producer is determined to follow a singular, dogmatic way of work, with a conviction that the applied techniques will create greatness, or they seem to be leaning in a philosophical direction with more questions than answers. Frederic seems like the latter type.

Another two visits that deserve mention was to Alexandre Lamblot (in Janvry next to Gueux) and Aurore Casanova (in Mardeuil next to Pierry). Both of them young growers with points to prove but from different backgrounds. The wines were worlds apart in terms of style, texture and even grape varieties, but the philosophy was much the same in spirit. Both producers craft wines from what can be considered lesser-known terroirs. Alexandre has vines in the village of Janvry, Chenay, Vrigny and Gueux, with the wines from Janvry and Gueux being of particular interest in this context. While Au - rore Casanova has land in the Grand Cru of Puisieulx. Alexandre is what you could consider as a true farmer, with his hands deep in the soil, standing on the ground of generations of grape growers and winemakers, but creating his own path. Aurore Casanova is in a more in the experimental phase, still navigating the story and style of the house.

It was obvious to feel a passion and curiosity towards experimentation, in both discovering their terroir, but also in low intervention winemaking. In terms of Champagne, low intervention is almost the same as speaking Chinese. In that regard, Alexandre is of particular interest; he works the vineyards with biodynamic farming practices, creating his own plant-based extractions as remedies towards diseases in the vineyards. The vineyards are planted with fruit trees between the vines to optimize biodiversity, and encourage the existence of different insects, acting as predators to other vine-threatening insects. Alexandre is also an advocate of harvesting at optimal ripeness, at slightly lower yields (not as low as Savart) with around 60-70 hectoliters pr. hectare. In the cellar his ideology was very straightforward, experimentation for the sake of progress, with no space for compromise. Should the wine be faulty (due to the low intervention winemaking) or of inferior quality, it would simply be distilled.

There was no room for mediocrity in this place and Alexandre is willing to make the necessary sacrifices in the name of his philosophy.

The reason I also feel Aurore Casanova is worth of attention, is her attitude towards the terroir. Like many other new and young producers of Champagne, it was evident that they were still finding their way, creating their style and identity, but based on the right foundation. Farming both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Puisieulx, creating characterful expressions of this forgotten village. The lesser known terroirs have become the birthplace of many of these new, exciting producers, who manage to create wines that are in no way of inferior to those from more well-known places.

The recipe for the young growers of Champagne seems to be taking shape; Sustainable vineyard management, harvesting grapes later and at lower yields, no additions of yeast for fermentation, fermentation and aging in oak barrels (of varying shapes and sizes), no additions of sulfur (except very little at bottling), no fining or filtration, and no (or very little) sugar with the liqueur d’expedition.

The last visit I wanted to touch on, were with a producer very much making wine in the same philosophy as the ones mentioned already, but with some points setting them apart. We were lucky really, it was clear skies, and the sun was in a good mood. Standing at the foot of hill where the city of Verzy is located, Adrien Renoir brought us to see some of his vineyards, just in time to meet the sheep, grazing the vineyard floor. The intention is to keep vegetation controlled, and at the same time providing an organic fertilizer for the soil. The sheep were being moved between the different vineyards until budbreak, as no risk could be taken to them eating the fresh buds. Adrien is quiet and humble man, with a lot on his mind. Speaking of the exceptional person, Adrien would be the opposite of Frederic Savart. He had a clear idea of where he was going, what was working for him and why, and which style of wine he was aiming to produce. Based in the somewhat overlooked Grand Cru of Verzy, on a northern exposed sloped, Pinot Noir had found a perfect home. Most of Adriens vineyards were planted in the early 60’s, while vineyards in Champagne were still being planted with seleccion massale (mixed clonal material). The use of oak and controlled oxidation is a key factor during vinification, and it mixes wonderfully with the zesty acidity from the cooler terroir of Verzy. Once again, Adrien emphasized later harvest, lower yields, and riper grapes.

It Really Does Take A Village

There is some comfort in knowing that the evidence was in the glass. This trip only confirmed my belief in that. I consider myself very fortunate to have the opportunity to meet these people, to hear their stories, to see and feel the passion bursting from the fire in their eyes. I know I’m not making some grand discovery here, but the simple fact is, we need to be more aware of the wines from Champagne that we buy. We need to be critical about the input in the vineyards as well as the cellar, just as we would with any other wine (or any other product for that matter). No longer should these wines hide behind the make-up of winemaking, but instead should be seen as they are, equally to every other wine we would put on our wine list, or serve to our guests, or drink in the comfort of our own homes.

In all summation I refer you to the simple proverb used in the title. Great momentum is with the growers (and producers) of Champagne, substantial strides have been made in the search of terroir and more refined expressive wines. They are moving in the right direction, but be patient, it takes time. It is our jobs as the industry professionals to support this movement, to push for more transparency, and to ask the right questions.

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