Nothing says celebration more than champagne; it’s widely viewed as a luxury good, something special and something a bit posh. It is the go-to wine for anything from applauding a recent promotion to toasting a new marriage.
I have been very lucky in my wine trade career to see the region and its producers up close and in some cases, to got to peek behind the curtain. What fascinates me is that behind the élan, sophistication and poise of the famous Champagne houses and their mega brands, there are stories that don’t necessarily fit the image that they have spent multiple millions crafting. A bubbling secret, that few outside the trade know, is how they source the grapes for this luxury product.
In the Champagne region wine making and grape growing are almost completely separated – the grape growers control nearly ninety percent of the supply of grapes, while the wine makers (négotiants) dominate production, sales and marketing of the final product.
This is an issue and something that would never happen elsewhere in French fine winemaking. In equally high-status areas such as Bordeaux or Burgundy, for example, the winemaking and farming of the fruit are intrinsically linked. In Burgundy where many of the growers have similar sized small properties as those in Champagne, producers own all their vineyards; anything less is considered sacrilege. In Bordeaux, properties are much bigger, but the ownership of the vines still belongs to the producer.
The argument for this umbilical link to the soil is quality; if you don’t own and care for the vines yourself how can you be sure they are producing the highest quality fruit?
Historically, champagne has relied heavily on its export markets; the Champenoise sell almost fifty million cases, worth €3bn per annum to the rest of the globe. The cost of building these markets over time has taken significant capital and administrative and sales resources, barriers to entry that put all but the wealthiest off. Add to this a technically complicated and expensive production process and it is little surprise that most grape growers, with little financial muscle, stick to farming.
Don’t weep for the growers though, as they benefit from an age-old agreement where they are paid for the size of their yield rather than the quality – the more grapes they provide, the more they earn. With the major brands requiring fruit from literally hundreds of suppliers, contact between each party is often very basic. As the fruit only gets the most cursory quality inspection when it is received at the winery, why would a grower spend any more time or money than they absolutely have to?
So how do the Grand Marques, the major houses, manage to produce this hugely desired product? Their secret is in the creation of a “house style”, managed by the Chef de Cave or cellarmaster – an expert palate takes literally hundreds of wine samples and blends them to a taste profile that matches that of previous vintages.
This is a system that will never produce wines that express vineyard characteristics or “terroir”’ as the French would say, unlike many of their illustrious peers. Coaxing flavour and personality from a wine by adding and subtracting base wines, is fundamentally not the same as producing greatness from one site.
This article is not an attempt to dissuade you from your favourite glass of fizz but merely a cautionary tale, to remind you, by way of the Merchant of Venice, “all that glisters is not gold.”