What You Need to Know About Grower Champagne

Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is champagne. Champagne is made using the traditional method, which means that there are two fermentations, with the secondary fermentation happening in bottles, which gives us a really fine bead, which leads to tiny bubbles and a luxurious frothy mousse. But champagne must also come from Champagne France, and there's a whole list of guidelines and regulations that a winemaker must follow from what, where, and how the wine is made. And if they break any of these rules, can it still be considered champagne? Champagne is made up of several sub-regions, with many villages and even more individual growers. For years, these growers held contracts with big Champagne houses, and they were responsible for growing grapes that then would be blended and turned into fantastic sparkling wine. And this went on for generations. Well, at the turn of the 20th century, word got out that larger Champagne houses were actually buying grapes from less expensive regions throughout France, and even sourcing grapes from other countries as far as Portugal. Needless to say, growers were livid. They were working so hard in this cool growing climate to grow grapes, and all along their grapes were being favored. So a revolt happened, and this is what we call the Champagne Revolution. Growers across Champagne blockaded entry points for these foreign grapes and started a petition. And it wasn't until 1927 that Champagne was established as an AOC, which means that it was now a regulated area, known as an appellation. Since then, there are now very strict rules from what grapes can be used to make Champagne, how the Champagne is made, how many grapes can be harvested by weight, alcohol amounts, aging requirements. And all of this has led to preserving the integrity of Champagne. So if you're drinking Champagne, you're drinking quality. Though the revolution won these regulations, a handful of growers vowed to never sell their grapes again. And this leads to the birth of grower Champagne. This means that the person who is making the Champagne is also responsible for growing the grapes. And this represents a really, really small percentage of Champagne made today. Many of these families still have preserved these contracts with larger houses, where others have broken the mold. We know of certain growers who have decided to, when they've inherited their family's property, or rather their family vineyards, they have decided to break their contracts and become a grower Champagne themselves, which is really exciting. And at Daedalus, because we champion producer story and we're really obsessed with our growers and amplifying their voices, we are so excited to represent grower Champagne at our shops and on our wine list. So if you are excited by grower Champagne, or maybe by Champagne in general, how do you know if the bottle of sparkling that you're grabbing is in fact Champagne and is then a grower Champagne? Let's look to the label to find out more. Let's check it out. So let's look at Don Gruyere. So this is a Champagne made in a Grand Cru village of Cremeaux. Now let's see if Adrien Don Gruyere is a grower or a house that is purchasing grapes. If I turn to the back, I see that there are a series of numbers, and in front of those numbers there are two capital letters. This combination of letters will actually tell us the relationship between who grew the grapes and who made the Champagne. In the case of grower Champagne, you will see an RM. This means Récutant Manipulant. So this means that Adrien not only grew the grapes, but also used his own grapes to make the Champagne. If Adrien had purchased the grapes from a neighbor or another place within Champagne, he would have to write NM, which means Négociant Manipulant. Négociants purchase grapes to then make their Champagne. Let's meet some of these growers. Champagne Tarlant. Love it. This is OG grower Champagne. Louis Tarlant, at the turn of the 20th century, decided to change his family's style of growing grapes to making their own Champagne. He was part of the avant-garde of this revolution and produces exceptional grower Champagne today. Melanie and Benoit Tarlant represent the 12th generation for this house, and they are staying true to their style of long-leaves aging and zero dosage. So this Champagne is like cappuccino foam with electricity. For the ladies, Jay LaSalle. This is run by three generations of women who are carrying on the legend of Jules LaSalle and are making really exceptional Champagnes. Their Rosé Champagne is one of my absolute favorite Champagnes to enjoy with food. Paul Barra. Paul Barra represents the little village of Bruzy in the Montagne de Reims, making really exquisite Champagnes from Pinot Noir. These are my favorite Champagnes with caviar. They also believe that magnums are better, saying that how their Champagnes age in magnum leads to an exquisite example of what they do both texturally and aromatically. And my beloved Robert Moncuit made by Pierre Amier. I have met few people who love Chardonnay more than Pierre, and Pierre is doing something really interesting where he is celebrating individual vineyard sites. This is a belief that great wine is made in the vineyard and that Champagne can actually express a sense of terroir. This is a radical concept, thinking that this method can actually still showcase the really beautiful nuances of these different sub-regions and vineyards within Champagne. Champagne Fleury. So Champagne Fleury is important to us because they were one of the very first grower houses to farm biodynamically in Champagne. Now Champagne is a fairly cool region. I'm at the most northern growing limit in France, so all of this to say farming without chemicals, really challenging. But Fleury was not afraid and they do everything naturally and have a fairly light touch in the vineyard and incorporate things that help build kind of a full circle ecosystem, working with draft horses and compost to fertilize in the way. Did you get the shot? Can I drink, can I drink? Cut!