Alastair's Champagne Blog

It’s all starting!

A visit last week to Champagne, en route back from Burgundy (which is entirely another story), showed those very first new shoots and buds forming.  Interestingly, the georgaphy of the region was underlined as the vineyards in Champagne were definitely three to five days behind those in Burgundy.  The pictures of this new vineyard planting showe the virgin vines pushing through – not unlike scarlet asparagus spears!

It was a chance to visit our three main producers and get a live update on all matters viticultural, as they saw things.  At Cheurlin-Dangin in the Aube, it was hectic.  A bottling session was underway and this was a great opportunity for a quick iPhone video which can be glimpsed on our You Tube account.  Cheurlin disgorge their bottles en batch up to six months before they are labelled, and that after a six month bottle age in the cellars, and that really underlines quality.  We inherited Cheurlin following taking over the Champagne Cellar business last year as the lovely Hazel and jane retired, and it has been a very happy consequence as I think Cheurlin’s entire range of champagnes are super.

Despite being fifith generation on the secateurs, Cheurlin are very proactive and forward thinking and, hot off the lees are their first bottles of Origance – the first all Pinot blend of champagne in recent global history.  Origance is a blend of Pinot Meunier (10%) and Pinot Noir (30%) – so nothing odd there.  However, the remaining 60% is all Pinot Blanc.  Wow!  This isn’t just marketing either:  the champagne has five years bottle age and the blend works really really well.  We are waiting for our first consignment on which we will be seeking objective professional opinion from the wine world.

At Nomine Renard and with 23 hectares of vineyards to look after, the team was out in the fields taking advatange of the excellent early weather.  Claude Nomine is head of the family business and he attributes so much of the quality of his champagnes to his intimate knowledge of the vineyards.  Every grape that goes into a bottle of their champagne has been cultivated by them from their own vineyards.  Claude also handles the blending process and his instinctive knowledge of each individual vineyard plot definitely influences his blending thought process.  He also knows that in different weather conditions, different vineyards and different vines will produce differing qualities, all of which goes into his blending mix.  Amazing!

Bruno Mignon in the centre of Epernay has hugely expanded his business, now producing over 1m bottles per year.  His growth has been fuelled by massive demand from the French independet wine merchant fraternity.  However, Bruno did post a reminder of how difficult things are at the moment.  Grape prices and the sur latte trade have both seem big increases in prices but this is symptematic of everything in France – and perhaps elsewhere.  Apparently the cost of flour has risen so sharply that baguettes are now 40% more expensive than twelve months ago and in France, that is a shocker!

And all of this in a 37 year old MGB without any major glitch, although I must confess to a huge sigh of relief when safely boarded on the train to come home;  surely that deserves a sparkling pick me up…