Sorry if I sound a bit animated here, but there’s recently been a lot of poor information given out about what are known as RM champagnes, or grower champagnes, as they are sometimes called. Don’t get me wrong; the increasing interest in lesser-known brands is wonderful and very encouraging. There is no one more pleased than I am. In fact I’ve been saying for years that since there are almost 5,000 champagne brands to choose from, it’s crazy not to try more of them. Unfortunately, until fairly recently, many people mistakenly assumed that the handful of international brands you find everywhere were ‘the best’ champagnes around, or, worse still, that they were the only champagnes worth drinking at all. So, it’s great to see the smaller growers getting more recognition. The quality of their champagnes can be superb and the prices are often just as appealing as the quality. However some people seem to be going over the top and there’s another trend that is now creeping in which is potentially just as misleading as big brand syndrome and that is to say that RM champagnes are ALL that you should be looking for. It’s a sort of reverse snobbery. I believe that this stems from a misunderstanding of what RM means and I can’t help having a quick mini-rant which I hope will prevent you missing out on some great champagnes and some great bargains. So, what does RM actually mean? Well, it refers to the code to be found ( in very small letters) on the label of just about every bottle of champagne and which is used to identify the status of the champagne maker. R stands for Récoltant ( the literal translation is ‘Harvester’) M stands for Manipulant ( literally ‘Handler’) An RM champagne-maker harvests grapes from his own vineyards and handles, or processes, the grapes to produce his own champagne. There are several other categories but the most common one is NM N stands for Négociant (negotiator or ‘dealer’) M stands, as before, for Manipulant This type of champagne maker may buy grapes from third parties as well as harvesting grapes from his own vineyard. The NM category includes all the big, famous brands and is generally associated with large-scale production, whereas RM producers are, of necessity, much smaller companies. They rely on their own vineyards and so don’t have access to so many grapes as the NM. It's this 'boutique' nature of some of these champagne makers, that is giving rise to what can be a narrow-minded view of things. But here’s the thing..... There are plenty of very small-scale champagne makers who are NM and yet still have all the quality and very often the attractive prices of the RM as well. How can this be? Let’s tale a couple of concrete examples to shown you what I mean... Champagne Comte Audoin de Dampierre Wow, the name’s a mouthful in itself and the champagne is just as amazing The Comte is based in the village of Chenay and has a growing band of admirers for his champagne, but his company owns no vineyards so he has to buy all his grapes on the open market.This makes him a NM even though, size-wise, he fits into the RM category. Still, he’s making a virtue out of this necessity: He proudly states that: " You make good champagne with good grapes. So I buy only the best grapes.When you want the best, you don’t haggle, you pay the price." You’ve probably gathered from this that his champagnes are not the cheapest you can find, but they’re not exhorbitantly expensive either and, for the quality, they’re excellent value compared with some, more famous names. Champagne Pierson Whitaker This is about the closest I’ve found to hand-made champagne. I guess I’m biased because I have known Didier Pierson and his partner Imogen Whitaker for many years, but I’m far from being the only person who thinks their champagnes are fabulous. Plus they are criminally under-priced. Pierson Whitaker’s own vineyard holdings are tiny, so they buy grapes on the open market too and that makes them NM. If you rejected Pierson Whitaker just because the supposedly magic letters RM don’t appear on the bottle, you’d be shooting yourself in the foot big-time. The list of small, good quality NM champagne makers goes on and on which is a very good reminder to me not to do the same, so I’ll finish this post now just by asking you once again not to put on the RM blinkers. Thank you – I’m a little calmer now. Jiles PS Comte Audoin de Dampierre champagne is stocked in many places in the U.K. however, the only place I know that stocks Pierson Whitaker is MW2Wines at There’s a lot of misleading talk about RM, or small grower champagnes, being THE ONLY thing to look for in champagne.This is a gross over-simplication....
Last but not least, don’t forget that if you really want the inside track about champagne, you can buy my e-book The Insider’s Guide To Champagne for only £19.97 at
www.madaboutbubbly.com
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