Robert Walters "is a wine merchant, writer and vineyard owner with over 25 years of experience in the wine trade. His obsessive search for great grower wines has led him to work closely with many important producers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand as well as many of Champagne's finest artisans ..." In an article titled Alternative Champagne 2 (The World of Fine Wine, Issue 35, 2012), Walters described "Champagne de Terroir," as a wine which "maximizes the expression of the vineyard and removes the influence of the winemaker." These Champagnes de Terroir were, according to Walters, "only produced successfully by a handful of the finest growers." I have summarized the methods of construction, the builders, and the characteristics of these Champagnes de Terroir in the chart below.
Walters has gone behind the curtains of his concept in a book titled Bursting Bubbles: A Secret History of Champagne and the Rise of the Great Growers. He takes two journeys in his book: (i) through the history of the Champagne region and (ii) a physical journey through the region to "... visit many of the finest of these 'grower producers' -- the artisans who are producing Champagne's most exciting and authentic wines." I have covered each of these "finest" growers individually on this blog and will use this post to compare and contrast them across a number of relevant characteristics.
The figure, and immediately following table, show the population and geographic distribution of the growers identified as the "finest" by Walters.
Table 1: Regions and communes of the Great Growers
Grand Cru, Premier Cru, Autre Cru.
Some points of note on the above data:
(i) Jérôme Prévost came by way of his 2.2-ha vineyard -- Les Béguines -- as a result of his mother inheriting the property. According to Tyson Stelzer (Champagne Grower-producers: the beginning of the end, Decanter, 7/7/2018), while the 13,000-bottle annual production is well-regarded, and sells for respectable prices, "such a small production is insufficient to sustain his livelihood. In order to grow production by purchasing fruit, Prévost recently relinquished his récoltant-manipulant credentials to be reincarnated as a négociant-manipulant."
(ii) Jacques Laissagne's estate holding is a single 3.5-ha block in the Le Cotet vineyard. In an effort to tap into all of the terroir opportunities on Montgueux, Emmanuel supplements the estate fruit with grapes purchased from a few small growers. In order to ensure that the purchased product approaches the level of quality of his grapes, Emmanuel's requirements are as follows:
Producer | Sub-region | Growing Zone | Home Commune | Other Communes |
Agrapart et Fils | Côte des Blancs | Côte des Blancs | Avize | Ogier, Cramant, Oiry |
Anselme Selosse | do. | do. | Avize | Cramant, Le Mesnil, Aÿ, Ambonnay, Mareuil-sur- Aÿ |
Larmandier-Bernier | do. | do. | Vertus | Cramant, Chouilly, Oger, Avize, |
Ulysse Collin | do. | Val du Petit Morin, Côte de Sezanne | Congy | |
Jacques Lassaigne | do. | Montgueux | Montgueux | |
La Closerie (Jérôme Prévost) | Montaigne de Reims | Petite Montaigne | Gueux | |
Chartogne-Taillet | do. | Massif de St. Thierry | Merfy | Chenay, St. Thierry |
Egly-Ouriet | do. | Grand Montaigne, Petite Montaigne | Ambonnay | Bouzy, Verzenay,Vrigny |
Vouette et Sorbée (Bernard Gautherot) | Côte des Bar | Buxières-sur-Arce | Ville-sur-Arce | |
Roses de Jeanne (Cédric Bouchard) | do. | Celles-sur-Ource |
Some points of note on the above data:
- Vineyard sizes range between 1.5 and 12 hectares
- Almost half of the producers have been influenced in one way or the other by Jacques Selosse
- A majority of the producers had served a stint away from the estate before returning and taking up the reigns
- Four of the 10 producers have access to Grand and/or Premier Cru vineyards.
(i) Jérôme Prévost came by way of his 2.2-ha vineyard -- Les Béguines -- as a result of his mother inheriting the property. According to Tyson Stelzer (Champagne Grower-producers: the beginning of the end, Decanter, 7/7/2018), while the 13,000-bottle annual production is well-regarded, and sells for respectable prices, "such a small production is insufficient to sustain his livelihood. In order to grow production by purchasing fruit, Prévost recently relinquished his récoltant-manipulant credentials to be reincarnated as a négociant-manipulant."
(ii) Jacques Laissagne's estate holding is a single 3.5-ha block in the Le Cotet vineyard. In an effort to tap into all of the terroir opportunities on Montgueux, Emmanuel supplements the estate fruit with grapes purchased from a few small growers. In order to ensure that the purchased product approaches the level of quality of his grapes, Emmanuel's requirements are as follows:
- The source vineyard must be located in Montgueux
- The source vineyard must have a south or southeast exposure
- The source vineyard must rest on chalky soils
- The vineyard must be managed by a good grower who works effectively in the vineyard
- The fruit must issue from old vines (45 - 60 years old).
Farming Practices
For the vast majority of Champagne's growers, it is easier, and more profitable, to sell grapes to the Houses than it is to make and sell their own wine (Tyson Stelzer, Champagne Grower-producers: the beginning of the end, Decanter, 7/7/2018). So the growers that do produce their own wines are not doing so to have things easy, or in pursuit of easy dollars. Rather, they are mission-oriented; and the mission is the production of wines that are reflective of the terroir within which they are produced.
Most of the producers practice some form of biodynamic, organic, or sustainable farming. Of the ones practicing biodynamic or organic farming, individual producers may or may not be certified. Jacques Lassaigne, for example, farms its vineyards organically, eschewing fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. The grass in the vineyard is cultivated between vines and rolled flat between rows. Ulysse Collin practices a mix of organic and conventional farming in order to provide the flexibility to intervene if the occasion warrants it. Vineyard practices include:
Fruit Quality
Growers and Houses in Champagne are not too concerned about the ripeness of the fruit as chaptalization and dosage are available as options to boost the sugar content of the wine. Further, if a yeasty character is the end goal, then fruit ripeness represents something that has to be mitigated. That is not the case for the grower-producers, however. Every one of the producers identified herein pursues ripeness of fruit (As a matter of fact, Tom Stevenson, noted Champagne critic, has accused Selosse of using over-ripe fruit in his wines).
According to Walters, the key to the Larmandier-Bernier wine is its ability to harvest fully ripe grapes. Walters sees this ability being driven by:
Pressing
Grapes are gently pressed in refrigerated (Egly-Ouriet), bladder (Larmandier-Bernier), or manual (Ulysse Collin) presses. In the case of Egly-Ouriet, the press is whole-cluster and only the first run juice is used. In the case of Ulysse Collin, the first and second issue from the press are pumped into vats and stored separately for 1 year after which they are blended. According to Olivier, the first press provides backbone and structure while the second adds strength and richness.
Fermentation
All producers use indigenous yeasts to ferment the grapes in a variety of vessels to include oak barrels (of various sizes and origin), stainless steel tanks, and concrete eggs. Plots are vinified and held separately.
Scalawine.com, in discussing fermentation at Egly-Ouriet, stated thusly:
Malolactic fermentation and aging occur in stainless steel tanks or in oak; in some cases on the lees (6 - 36 months) and, in some cases, with lees-stirring. Prevost ages his wines in a mix of used barriques and demi-muids ranging in size between 400L and 600L. Unlike Jacques Selosse, for example, Cédric Bouchard does not use any oak in the aging of his wines. In his view, wood adds substances to the wine and, in so doing, detracts from the terroir effects. In addition, the use of oak promotes oxidation of the wine and he views oxidative notes in Champagne as a flaw (as does Tom Stevenson). All of the Bouchard wines are fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks
Additives
For the most part, the producers do not fine, filter, cold stabilize, add enzymes, or chaptalize their wines. Agrapart adds 50 mg/l of SO₂ at crush to combat oxidation while Prévost, Selosse, and Vouette et Sorbée own up to minimal amounts added.
Blending
Because of the small plot sizes in Champagne, a producer generally presses grapes from multiple villages and stores the resulting wines separately until blended. Bouchard and Prévost do not blend their wines. Rather, they seek to distill the essence of terroir through single-vineyard, single-variety, single-vintage wines.
In Agrapart's view, some components show as complete and then regress when blended with wines from another village. They notice no such regression when wines from similar geological environments are blended and this has led them to implement geological blends -- finished Champagnes that come from vineyards with similar geology (Walters). In Pascal's assessment, these similar-soil wines blend more "comfortably."
Peter Liem calls the Selosse blending process solera and describes it as being akin to the process used to make sherry in Jerez. Both White and Parker refer to the Selosse method as perpetual blending. According to Parker, the true solera method requires that each vintage (criadera) be kept separately with the oldest vintage being called the solera. Selosse, on the other hand, adds the new vintage to a common pool and then draws from that pool for the current season's wine.
A number of the producers hold back a portion of each year's wine as a reserve to be added to future vintages. Those future wines will then be comprised a blends of two or more vintages.
Liqueur de Tirage
Prévost adds 23 gm down from 24.5 gm prior to 2007. This new level has resulted in lower pressure, fewer bubbles, and lower alcohol. Bouchard is even lower at 20 gm (well below the norm of 24 gm). This reduced level of sugar yields gas pressure of 4.5 atmospheres (versus and average of 6) and "a gentle, disappearing mousse."
Lees Aging
Depending on the producer and the wine, lees aging can range between 1 and 10 years.
Dosage
Dosage is very low among the producers, ranging from zero across the entire line (Vouette et Sorbée) to a range that tops out at 7 g/l (Larmandier-Bernier and Agrapart). The entire line of the Prévost, Egly-Ouriet, and Ulysse Collin wines fall at or below 3 g/l dosage.
- Ploughing ("To plough the soil encourages biological activities for oxygen, water, temperature and fungus" -- Olivier Collin)
- Powdered sulfur to combat odium
- Organic insecticides used against ver de la grappe (tiny caterpillar that eats the berries and causes gray rot)
- Mildew is fought with chemical compounds
- Organic compost is added to the soil as needed.
Fruit Quality
Growers and Houses in Champagne are not too concerned about the ripeness of the fruit as chaptalization and dosage are available as options to boost the sugar content of the wine. Further, if a yeasty character is the end goal, then fruit ripeness represents something that has to be mitigated. That is not the case for the grower-producers, however. Every one of the producers identified herein pursues ripeness of fruit (As a matter of fact, Tom Stevenson, noted Champagne critic, has accused Selosse of using over-ripe fruit in his wines).
According to Walters, the key to the Larmandier-Bernier wine is its ability to harvest fully ripe grapes. Walters sees this ability being driven by:
- Biodynamic viticulture
- Balanced yields
- Minimal fertilizers
- Precise pruning
- The nerve to wait.
- Old vines
- Working the soil (The estate feels that ploughing promotes deep roots and facilitates healthy soils)
- Moderate yields
- No fertilizers
- Mature grapes picked by hand.
Pressing
Grapes are gently pressed in refrigerated (Egly-Ouriet), bladder (Larmandier-Bernier), or manual (Ulysse Collin) presses. In the case of Egly-Ouriet, the press is whole-cluster and only the first run juice is used. In the case of Ulysse Collin, the first and second issue from the press are pumped into vats and stored separately for 1 year after which they are blended. According to Olivier, the first press provides backbone and structure while the second adds strength and richness.
Fermentation
All producers use indigenous yeasts to ferment the grapes in a variety of vessels to include oak barrels (of various sizes and origin), stainless steel tanks, and concrete eggs. Plots are vinified and held separately.
Scalawine.com, in discussing fermentation at Egly-Ouriet, stated thusly:
Like many Burgundians, Francis (ed. of Egly-Ouriet) is convinced a big element of barrel fermentation and long (7 - 10 months) aging on the lees of the first fermentation is critical for expressing the terroir in the wine, giving less of a reductive "stainless steel" effect to the wine and, of course, allowing individual parcels to be captured and calculated into blending options much more precisely than if larger tanks were used. The small volume of wine in barrel gives less pressure over the lees than in a big tank, so better convective contact with the solids and enough infinitesimal exchange with air to avoid the sulfery reductive aromas that can be the bane of wines kept long on lees. A long time on the first lees allows a gentle flocculation of yeasts and settling out of the tiny colloidal solids in the wine. There is no battonage to avoid "fatness" in the wine and this long barrel regime for the vins clairs obviates any fining or filtration.Aging
Malolactic fermentation and aging occur in stainless steel tanks or in oak; in some cases on the lees (6 - 36 months) and, in some cases, with lees-stirring. Prevost ages his wines in a mix of used barriques and demi-muids ranging in size between 400L and 600L. Unlike Jacques Selosse, for example, Cédric Bouchard does not use any oak in the aging of his wines. In his view, wood adds substances to the wine and, in so doing, detracts from the terroir effects. In addition, the use of oak promotes oxidation of the wine and he views oxidative notes in Champagne as a flaw (as does Tom Stevenson). All of the Bouchard wines are fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks
Additives
For the most part, the producers do not fine, filter, cold stabilize, add enzymes, or chaptalize their wines. Agrapart adds 50 mg/l of SO₂ at crush to combat oxidation while Prévost, Selosse, and Vouette et Sorbée own up to minimal amounts added.
Blending
Because of the small plot sizes in Champagne, a producer generally presses grapes from multiple villages and stores the resulting wines separately until blended. Bouchard and Prévost do not blend their wines. Rather, they seek to distill the essence of terroir through single-vineyard, single-variety, single-vintage wines.
In Agrapart's view, some components show as complete and then regress when blended with wines from another village. They notice no such regression when wines from similar geological environments are blended and this has led them to implement geological blends -- finished Champagnes that come from vineyards with similar geology (Walters). In Pascal's assessment, these similar-soil wines blend more "comfortably."
Peter Liem calls the Selosse blending process solera and describes it as being akin to the process used to make sherry in Jerez. Both White and Parker refer to the Selosse method as perpetual blending. According to Parker, the true solera method requires that each vintage (criadera) be kept separately with the oldest vintage being called the solera. Selosse, on the other hand, adds the new vintage to a common pool and then draws from that pool for the current season's wine.
A number of the producers hold back a portion of each year's wine as a reserve to be added to future vintages. Those future wines will then be comprised a blends of two or more vintages.
Liqueur de Tirage
Prévost adds 23 gm down from 24.5 gm prior to 2007. This new level has resulted in lower pressure, fewer bubbles, and lower alcohol. Bouchard is even lower at 20 gm (well below the norm of 24 gm). This reduced level of sugar yields gas pressure of 4.5 atmospheres (versus and average of 6) and "a gentle, disappearing mousse."
Lees Aging
Depending on the producer and the wine, lees aging can range between 1 and 10 years.
Dosage
Dosage is very low among the producers, ranging from zero across the entire line (Vouette et Sorbée) to a range that tops out at 7 g/l (Larmandier-Bernier and Agrapart). The entire line of the Prévost, Egly-Ouriet, and Ulysse Collin wines fall at or below 3 g/l dosage.
The table below captures selected critical perspectives of the Great-Grower wines.
Table 2: The wines of the "Finest" producers
The shared objective of these producers is to craft wines reflective of the grape sources -- terroir wines -- and they accomplish that goal by harvesting ripe fruit and vinifying and aging them with the minimum of intervention. Ripe grapes result from a combination of the right soils, right exposition, and best farming practices.
For additional information on each of the individual estates, please click on the links below.
Agrapart et fils
Jacques Selosse
Larmandier-Bernier
Ulysse Collin
Jacques Lassaigne
La Closerie (Jérôme Prévost)
Chartogne-Taillet
Egly-Ouriet
Vouette et Sorbee (Bernard Gautherot)
Roses de Jeanne (Cédric Bouchard)
Table 2: The wines of the "Finest" producers
PRODUCER | WINE |
AGRAPART ET FILS | … pillowy textures from ripe Chardonnay … married to a racy, saline, mineral freshness … mouth-filling and relatively full-bodied wines, yet they are never heavy; rather, they are always refreshing, energetic and racy. They are without doubt some of the very finest wines being produced today in Champagne |
JACQUES SELOSSE | "outstanding for their arresting tang and vinosity combined with what I can only call a gorgeous finesse of mousse ..." (Tom Hall, scalawine.com) |
LARMANDIER-BERNIER | “… wines of great purity, monuments of restraint that are one more nod to the monastic" Peter Liem (Champagne) |
ULYSSE COLLIN | “… ripe, richly expressive single-vineyard wines |
JACQUES LASSAIGNE | Les Vignes de Montgueux – a racy, salty, iodine noted wine, at once deliciously refreshing yet having good depth and some exotic notes. Le Cotet – a racy, mineral, citrusy, complex wine (Walters) |
LA CLOSERIE (JEROME PRÉVOST) | “Saline, savory undertones and sleek, tense build. Its energy and vibrancy is unlike any other Meunier in Champagne and his wine always needs several years after its release to reveal its depth and complexity of flavor” (Peter Liem) |
CHARTOGNE-TAILLET | "… each distinct, complex and terroir-driven and yet they share a minerality and vinosity that can be attributed to Alexandre's hard work in the vineyard" (closcru.com) |
EGLY-OURIET | Power, purity, intensity of fruit |
VOUETTE ET SORBÉE (BERNARD GAUTHEROT) | “… uncompromisingly original, possessing deep, vinous aromas and assertive personalities. These are wines before they are Champagnes, and their intensity of character makes them more suitable for contemplative drinking or to accompanying food than to casual sipping” (Peter Liem) |
ROSES DE JEANNE (CÉDRIC BOUCHARD) | “… some of the most spectacular wines being made anywhere in the world …” (Antonio Galloni) |
The shared objective of these producers is to craft wines reflective of the grape sources -- terroir wines -- and they accomplish that goal by harvesting ripe fruit and vinifying and aging them with the minimum of intervention. Ripe grapes result from a combination of the right soils, right exposition, and best farming practices.
For additional information on each of the individual estates, please click on the links below.
Agrapart et fils
Jacques Selosse
Larmandier-Bernier
Ulysse Collin
Jacques Lassaigne
La Closerie (Jérôme Prévost)
Chartogne-Taillet
Egly-Ouriet
Vouette et Sorbee (Bernard Gautherot)
Roses de Jeanne (Cédric Bouchard)
