Debate a Bubble - Champagne News and Reviews

Getting Greener In Champagne

Over the years Champagne has had some poor publicity as regards environmentally friendly practices, or rather the lack of them, but all that is changing rapidly.

Apart from the growing number of champagne producers who use organic, or bio-dynamic methods, there are many other initiatives in place to go easy on our planet and the latest concerns the weight of champagne bottles....

Let’s set the scene  with a few facts and figures – better take a note of these; they are sure to come up in trivia quizzes before too long.

Everyone will have noticed how much heavier champagne bottles are than other wine bottles. This is because the bottles have to be thicker, and therefore heavier, to withstand the pressure inside. All that’s fairly clear and obvious but here are a few things you probably don’t know

An ordinary still wine bottle weighs between 450 – 500 grams (1 – 1.1 lbs) compared with 900 grams (2lbs) for a bottle of champagne – almost twice as much. Back at the start of the 20th century champagne bottles weighed even more at massive 1.2 kilograms (2.5 lbs)

Here’s another amazing fact; the packaging used in the champagne industry accounts for a whopping 30% of all the carbon dioxide emissions of the entire Champagne region; half of this is down to the bottles alone.

Anyone who is concerned with green issues will be pleased to hear that a new and lighter version of the traditional champagne bottle has just been approved for use. In fact a few houses, Veuve Clicquot and Mumm being the biggest two, have already decided to use the lighter bottles this year meaning that they’ll be hitting the market in about three years time after ageing in the cellars.

The new bottles weigh 840 grams and whilst that’s only 60 grams lighter than the normal bottles, the cumulative effect is huge. Veuve Cliquot reckons that their overall CO2 emissions will be cut by 450 tons per year, that’s equivalent to pulling 140 vehicles off the road.

They also calculate that they’ll need 48 fewer delivery lorries as well because you can pack 24 pallettes of the lighter bottles on a lorry instead of only 22 at the moment.

For the time being however you won’t be able to see any difference. For a start the bottles won’t be on the market at all for a few years, for another thing champagne houses are not obliged to use them, so I suppose that some will and some won’t and even if they do you may be hard pressed to spot the difference since it’s only 60 grams

 Still, I imagine that, in time, the lighter bottles will entirely replace the current version and just think what an impact that will have.

There are roughly 1 billion bottles of champagne in the cellars at any one time; that's going to reduce the CO² by a lot but I'll leave it to you to calculate exactly how much!

Champagne Sales Haven't Lost All Their Fizz

Well, after all the doom and gloom earlier this year about champagne sales and prices falling through the floor, http://bit.ly/thepriceofchampagne

the year didn't end quite as disastrously as was first feared.

According to the information I'm getting, the official figures show that 294 million bottles of champagne were sold last year. That sounds like a lot of bottles but in fact it's 12% down on last year.

Still, back in Spring when sales were 30% + down on last year it looked as though the year was going to be a lot worse than it's actually turned out

Total champagne sales last year were back to the level they were in 2002 and I would think that, all in all, champagne makers will be satisfied with the way the year has ended.

Mind you, that figure of -12% versus last year is the total for all champagne makers' sales around the world and I haven't yet seen the figures for  the U.K.

Within those 294 million bottles sold, sales of the smaller houses held up much better than those of the bigger brands; many smaller houses actually increased their sales.

Is this because the smaller brands are generally cheaper than the big brands and consumers are merely driven by price?

Or is it because smart consumers are realising more and more that the big brands rarely offer the best value for money and that you can find great quality and lots of variety amongst what are popularly called the Grower Champagnes, not to mention better value?

Time will tell, and it will be interesting to see if 2010 sees the return in force of the grandes marques or  whether grower champagnes will continue their steady progress

Watch this spaces and in any event,

Stay Bubbly

Red Champagne

No matter what subject you're interested in there's always something new to learn and champagne is no different.

I've always thought that champagne came in two colours: white champagne and rosé champagne and in fact I've always said that red champagne doesn't exist.

Well it looks as though I'll have to eat my words because I've just found out about what is apparently a real red champagne, not just a dark rosé, but a genuine red champagne.

This is one of two rarities produced by Elodie and Fabrice Poullion who are nothing if not innovative.

Instead of trying to compete with far bigger brands by doing what the bigger brands do, they've decided to do something very different.

I plan to visit them in February or early March to find out more, but from what I've heard so far they don't use any added sugar at all in producing their champagnes. They rely entirely on the sugars naturally present in the grapes themselves: fructose and glucose

Fructose and Glucose belong to the family of sugars known as Hexoses (pronouned XOs)and because there are only these 2 types of sugar in this new champagne they've come up with a novel new name for the champagne as well

It's called 

2 X oz

Hope you get it - actually the play on words works better in French

http://www.2xoz.fr/

2 X oz is made from Pinot Noir only so technically speaking it's a Blanc de Noirs. So far, nothing radical about that, but there will be three different versions of this champagne:

Production is tiny - only 2847 bottles and it's get's more intriguing still...

A part of the production will be sold as a non-vintage champagne after 24 months ageing and a second part will be aged one further year and sold as a vintage 2004 after 36 months ageing.

Just 300 bottles have been made as the amazing "red" champagne.

Needless to say, none of this precious stuff has left France yet.

To say that I'm eager to taste these champagnes would be an understatement, and if possible, I'll liberate a few bottles

More on this fascinating champagne soon

Meanwhile, Stay Bubbly,

Champagne Videos

This is just a quick post to tell all of you who'd like to know more about champagne that I've created loads of short videos on champagne and posted them on YouTube

There are lots of topics and there'll be lots more as the weeks and month go by, so why not drop in from time to time

Here are a few links directly to the videos

Choosing Champagne - How do I know if I'll like it BEFORE I  buy the bottle - Part I

This video look at the way the grapes are blended together to produce different results

http://bit.ly/tipsonbuyingchampagne

Part II

Here are some tips about the quality of the grapes used to make the champagne

http://bit.ly/tipsonbuyingchampagne2

The title of this next one is a bit of a giveaway

http://bit.ly/Howtoopenabottleofchampagne

What tastes and aromas to look for in champagne

http://bit.ly/Tastesandaromasofchampagne

Tasting two great grower champagnes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQafT4N

Last but certainly not least, an introduction to our Champagne Club

http://bit.ly/Welcometoourchampagneclub

Hope you enjoy watching these are be sure to e-mail me if you have any questions

jiles@madaboutbubbly.com

Champagne For Your Health

I’ve been saying for some time that champagne should be available free on the National Health Service because of its health giving properties.

O.K. this was a bit tongue in cheek, but a recent study has shown that I may not have been so wrong after all...

I admit that I didn’t have much scientific evidence for thinking that champagne is good for you – didn’t have any at all if I’m honest. Part of it was just based on the sort of stories I saw from time to time about very elderly, but lively people who attributed their long life to a daily glass of champagne.

Not hugely convincing I admit, but there was more...

How many times have you heard the expression “Laughter is the Best Medicine”?

Hundreds of times I dare say and I don’t think that many people would argue that feeling good makes a huge contribution to your health.

My reasoning was that there’s not much that is so sure to make me feel good as champagne – works every time in fact, ergo..... champagne must be good for my health.

Another flimsy argument perhaps, but it felt right.

But for me the glincher was the polyphenols – the WHAT???

You’ve probably heard all that stuff about red wine being good for blood pressure and for reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes, well, a lot of that is down to some chemical compounds called polyphenols and there are lots and lots of them in red wine.

Now, we all know that most champagne is made from red as well as white grapes and because there are red grapes involved it just seemed obvious to me that there must be some of those magical little polyphenols in champagne too.

Again I didn’t have much proof of this, until now that is.

A team of scientists at Reading University in the U.K. has just completed a study that will be published in The British Journal of Nutrition and which concludes that champagne has the same health benefits as  red wine.

Yippee! I knew it and we’re not just talking about a sip.

The leader of the study, Dr. Jeremy Spencer said:

“We have found that a couple of glasses a day has a beneficial effect on the walls of the blood vessels which suggests that champagne has the potential to reduce strokes and heart disease”
(the underlining is mine JH)

The way i see it, this should apply to just about any champagne: vintage champagne, non vintage champagne, cheap champagne as well as prestige cuvée champagne - everything except perhaps Blanc de Blancs champagne because that's got no red grapes in it.

Champagne has comes up trumps in other reports too.

Back in 2007 another study found that champagne protects against brain injuries that are caused by strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses.

I feel vindicated at last and I'm sure that it’s only a matter of time before champagne will indeed be prescribed by doctors to their patients up and down the land.

So drink up and feel good!

To read the full story go this this link:
http://bordeaux-undiscovered.blogspot.com

and look at the post for Tuesday 15th December 2009

Now I'll have to start campaigning for champagne to be included as part of your ' Five A Day'

Stay Bubbly

Rosé Champagne - How to Find The One You Love, part 2

In part 1 of this blog we sort of dived in at the deep end with the big, bold rosés de saignée.

Next up is ‘Rosé d’Assemblage’

the more delicate and refined cousin, if you like, which is by far the more common way to make pink champagne.

Assemblage 

(pronounced asomblarge) means ‘blending’ in French, and that’s what they do.

They start with the still white wine made from the crushed grape juice and then simply add a little still red wine (made in the champagne region, of course). Then this blend then goes through the normal champagne-making process which creates the bubbles and turns the wine into rosé champagne.

Incidentally Champagne is the only wine-making area in France allowed to make rosé wine in this way; everywhere else in France it has to be done using the saignée method.

Rosé champagne made by the assemblage method is usually paler in colour and lighter in flavour than if it’s made by the saignée method.

The exact colour and flavour depend on the amount of red wine that is added: the more red wine, the darker the colour and the fuller the flavours. Something around 10% red wine is typical. Anything much more than that and you’d end up with something closer to a rosé de saignée which is not what this type of rosé is all about.

Again, to give you a point of reference, Moët & Chandon, Mumm and most other rosé champagnes are rosés d’assemblage.

Because most rosé champagnes are made by the assemblage method there are hundreds to choose from, but two you may not have heard of, and which I'd recommend without question, are Franck Bonville Rosé, Grand Cru and Collard Chardelle Rosé.

Franck Bonville is based in the village of Avize in La Côte des Blancs where the white Chardonnay grapes rule supreme.  Franck Bonville's rosé reflects the location and it's light, bright and classy, with a lovely pale pink colour.

Collard Chardelle is from La Vallée de La Marne area of Champagne, where Pinot Meunier grapes are in the majority. You won't be surprised to know then, that there is 50% Pinot Meunier in Collard Chardelle rosé. The other 50% is Pinot Noir, so there is no Chardonnay is this at all.

( Smaller growers tend to source grapes from near where they live so, when you know where they are based, that can immediately give you a clue as to what style of champagne they produce).

The result is a rich, cherry-red colour, and plenty more cherry-like taste in the champagne itself. A very fruity rosé this, with a soft, almost sweet texture - really easy to drink. 

Now you’ve read both parts of this post, you know that there are two types of pink champagne, and that gives you the power to choose the style you like. ( to read part 1 go here http://bit.ly/Rosechampagnepart1

Personally I’d go for a blended (assemblage) rosé as an aperitif before a meal, especially if it’s a nice warm, sunny day. This style of rosé just seems light and bright and right for that kind of occasion.

If I were having a meal and were going to sit down and really savour the champagne then I reckon it would be a rosé de saignée for me, but it’s entirely up to you, so whatever you like is right.

So what does this all mean for you?.....

Well, the first thing to do is to decide which of the two styles you prefer – more champagne-drinking practice needed I’m afraid! It’s tough, I know, but someone’s got to do it.

Because most rosé champagne is rosé d’assemblage, this is probably the style you’ll have come across already. If so, try looking for a rosé de saignée next time, just so that you know the different tastes. Then, when you’ve decided which of the two styles you prefer, you can try other champagnes like it until you find the one that’s perfect for you.

Let me know which one’s your favourite. Leave a comment in the comment box.

CHAMPAGNE CLUB

If you're champagne-lover, perhaps you’d like to learn a little more about it and discover some champagnes you’ve never tried before instead of stcking with just a few brands whose names you know?

If that sounds good to you and you like a little help in finding those new champagnes, then our champagne club is just the thing . Find out more by clicking

here

Top photo courtesy of Moët & Chandon

 

Champagne Labels - It's All Back To Front (short version)

Lots of people have written, blogged and videoed (is that a word?) about how to ‘read’a champagne label, but they’re all talking about the label on the FRONT of the bottle.

Here are a few thoughts on why what’s on the BACK label is potentially much more important....

By the way, there’s a lot that could be said on this and I didn’t want to overdo it for those who just want a fairly quick run-through of the main points, but if you want to read a more detailed version go to

http://bit.ly/Champagnelabels

It’s odd to me that people so often speak of “wine and champagne” as if they are two totally different things. They’re not of course.

I ‘m not suggesting that champagne isn’t a bit special – I love champagne and for me it has an extra magic that is hard to put your finger on - but when all is said and done champagne is only a wine with bubbles in it.

Yet some of things that you’d normally expect from a wine seem not to apply to champagne; take the labels for example.

The front label of a champagne bottle is always reasonably standard.

No matter what shape, or colour or size it is there are certain bits of information that must be there:

the word ‘Champagne’ for starters,
then the name of the producer and his registration code,
 the content (usually 75cl / 750ml),
the strength in abv ( alcohol by volume, usually 12%),
the degree of sweetness, (brut, demi-sec or whatever)
and there are a few more things besides which can appear on the front label.

If you ask me, a lot of this stuff is there more to satisfy the regulatory authorities than to give any really useful information to the consumer, but there you go. The point is that there’s little or nothing, in all this lot that tells you what the champagne tastes like, which is really what you want to know in the first place.

That leaves you hoping that there’ll be a back label with some more detailed stuff to help you understand what’s inside the bottle and what it tastes like, but have you ever looked at the back label on a champagne bottle?

Actually it would be more accurate to ask ‘ Have  you ever looked FOR the back label on a champagne bottle? The chances are there’s no back label at all.

This is a real shame and a missed opportunity for champagne makers because these days people want to know more about their wine (same with food and all sorts of things too) and they expect some sensible information.

Most wine makers seem to have cottoned on to this and put some helpful stuff on their labels, but not so when it comes to the big champagne brands.

Fortunately some makers are doing something a bit more switched on and I have to say that’s it’s often the smaller champagne makers who are leading the way- the so-called Grower Champagnes.

So what should the label tell you?

Recently I came across a back label that’s one the best I’ve ever seen so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s from Champagne Laherte Frères which has really caught my attention recently, but if they can do it, so can everyone else.

Don’t worry if you don’t get all the significance of what follows or if it some things seem a bit detailed – if you follow my blogs and especially if you join our champagne club then all will gradually become clear

The Blend :  85% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier
 
The type of grapes and more importantly, the proportion in which they have been blended, is very good indication of the style and so it’s one of the key things to know about a champagne.

The Ageing: 6 months in oak barrels followed by at least 42 months in the bottle in the cellars.

You need to know how long the champagne has been aged for, but very few makers tell you.

The yeasty, toasty aromas that many people associate with great champagne, only develop after a good few years ageing on the lees.

At the other end of the scale, a champagne that’s aged for the minmum time and no more will be what they call ‘Green’: sharp, thin and too acidic.

The quality of the grapes

Another good pointer to the quality of the champagne.

If the words Grand Cru or Premier Cru appear on the label, it means that the grapes used were top-notch.This is not an absolute guarantee that the champagne will be great too, but it’s definitely a plus point.

On the label of the bottle I am talking about, neither wording appears. That’s because there is 15% Pinot Meunier in the blend and no champagne with Pinot Meunier in it can be either Grand or Premier Cru *

The Dosage: 5 grams / litre

The Dosage is the small amount of liquid sugar added just before the bottle leaves the cellars so as to adjust the level of sweetness.

Most champagne is in the Brut category, but anything under 15 grams of sugar/litre can still be called Brut – that’s quite a variation, so you could buy a brut and find it’s not quite what you expected at all and worse, you wouldn’t understand why not.

So Yes. Brut is a good starting point, but something more precise is needed.

In the case of the champagne I’m refering to the dosage is only 5 gr/litre. That’s low, so you know that the champagne is going to be pretty dry with a distinct edge to it.

Wow, all that information packed into just a few short lines.

If only more makers did that we’d be so much better informed and have a better experience in my view. So far there are only a few makers who do this, but the trickle is getting bigger and from your point of view that can only be a good thing

Champagne Labels - It's All Back To Front

Lots of people have written, blogged and videoed (is that a word?) about how to ‘read’ a champagne label, but they’re all talking about the label on the FRONT of the bottle.

Here are a few thoughts on why what’s on the BACK label is potentially much more important....

It’s odd to me that people so often speak of “wine and champagne” as if they are two totally different things. They’re not of course.

I‘m not suggesting that champagne isn’t a bit special – I love champagne and for me it has an extra magic that is hard to put your finger on - but when all is said and done champagne is only a wine with bubbles in it.

Yet some of things that you’d normally expect from a wine seem not to apply to champagne; take the labels for example.

The front label of a champagne bottle is always reasonably standard.

No matter what shape, or colour or size it is there are certain bits of information that must be there:

the word ‘Champagne’ for starters,

then the name of the producer and his registration code,

the content (usually 75cl / 750ml),

the strength in abv ( alcohol by volume, usually 12%),

the degree of sweetness, (brut, demi-sec or whatever)

and there are a few more things besides which can appear on the front label.

If you ask me, a lot of this stuff is there more to satisfy the regulatory authorities than to give any really useful information to the consumer, but there you go. The point is that there’s little or nothing, in all this lot that tells you what the champagne tastes like, which is really what you want to know in the first place.

That leaves you hoping that there’ll be a back label with some more detailed stuff to help you understand what’s inside the bottle and what it tastes like, but have you ever looked at the back label on a champagne bottle?

Actually it would be more accurate to ask ‘ Have  you ever looked FOR the back label on a champagne bottle? The chances are there’s no back label at all.

Even when there is, it’s rare to find one that’s any help.

Yes, I know that part of the appeal of champagne is all about mystique, prestige and all that, but all too often what you see on a champagne back label is nothing more than marketing speak.

It might go something like this...

Champagne XXX is a blend of the 3 classic champagne grapes made with the utmost respect for nature and for tradition. Carefully blended by our Chef de Cave before being slowly aged in our cellars. Enjoy on any occasion especially as an aperitif.

Sounds sort of warm and fuzzy I agree, but what does this actually tell you about the champagne and how is it any different from say 75% of all the other champagnes that are made ?

On a school report this sort of woolly nonsense wouldn’t deserve any more than a ‘Could do Better’.

This is a real shame and a missed opportunity for champagne makers because these days people want to know more about their wine (same with food and all sorts of things too) and they expect some sensible information.

Most wine makers seem to have cottoned on to this and put some helpful stuff on their labels, but not so when it comes to most of the big champagne brands.

Fortunately some makers are doing something a bit more switched on and I have to say that’s it’s often the smaller champagne makers who are leading the way- the so-called Grower Champagnes.

So what should the label tell you?

Recently I came across a back label that’s one the best I’ve ever seen so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s from Champagne Laherte Frères which has really caught my attention recently, but if they can do it, so can everyone else.

Don’t worry if you don’t get all the significance of what follows or if it some things seem a bit detailed – if you follow my blogs and especially if you join our champagne club, then all will gradually become clear


The Blend:  85% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier

The type of grapes and more importantly, the proportion in which they have been blended, is very good indication of the style and so it’s one of the key things to know about a champagne.

The Ageing: 6 months in oak barrels followed by at least 42 months in the bottle in the cellars.

This is another crucial piece of the jigsaw
The yeasty, toasty aromas that many people associate with great champagne, only develop after a good few years ageing on the lees.

At the other end of the scale, a champagne that’s aged for the minimum time and no more may be what’s called ‘Green’: sharp, thin and too acidic.

So you need to know how long the champagne has been aged for, but very few makers tell you.

The quality of the grapes
Another good pointer to the quality of the champagne.

If the words Grand Cru or Premier Cru appear on the label, it means that the grapes used were top-notch. This is not an absolute guarantee that the champagne will be great too, but it’s definitely a plus point.

On the label of the bottle I am talking about, neither wording appears. That’s because there is 15% Pinot Meunier in the blend and no champagne with Pinot Meunier in it can be either Grand or Premier Cru ( champagne afficionados please don’t shoot me down on this one; I know there are some exceptions but the rule still holds true and this is only a short blog, not a book)

The dosage: 5 grams / litre
The Dosage is the small amount of liquid sugar added just before the bottle leaves the cellars so as to adjust the level of sweetness.

Most champagne is in the Brut category, but anything under 15 grams of sugar/litre can still be called Brut – that’s quite a variation, so you could buy a brut and find it’s not quite what you expected at all and worse, you wouldn’t understand why not.

So Yes. Brut is a good starting point, but something more precise is needed.

In the case of the champagne I’m refering to the dosage is only 5 gr/litre. That’s low, in fact it’s just into the extra brut category (<6gr/l) )  so you know that the champagne is going to be pretty dry with a distinct edge to it.

To add even more confusion, if you can bear it, 0-6 gr/litre can be Extra Brut as well Brut. Work out the logic of that if you can,

So all that information was conveyed in just 3 lines of short text and if there were nothing more than that on the back label, that would still be amazing and far more than most champagne makers tell us, but  Laherte Frères are nothing if not perfectionists and for real champagne enthusiasts they add a little more:

Origin of the Grapes
The grapes come from vineyards in 3 villages in the area called Les Coteaux Sud d’Epernay.
This relates to the quality of the grapes mentioned above and, after a while, you get to know what grapes from different locations can bring to a champagne.

No malolactic fermentation
 A bit techie this one, but it means that the champagne may tend to have a slightly more fresh acidic bite to it.
Each champagne maker has the choice whether or not, to carry out the malo-lactic fermentation. Most do, which means the champagne may feel a little softer and rounder in the mouth, but some, including big names like Lanson and Krug, don’t; so it’s a question of style and has nothing to do with quality.

Age of the Vines
Vines aged 40 years or more.

Usually a vine is productive for no more than about 30 years before it is uprooted and a new vine planted. The older it gets the fewer grapes a vine will produce, so that’s not always the best thing from a strictly commercial point of view. But.... fewer grapes usually means more concentrated flavours and that comes through in the champagne, so there’s a real bonus in having old vines.

Wow, a whole story in a few lines and you’re beginning to feel a little bit as if you know the land, the wine and the maker.

 If only more makers did that we’d be so much better informed and have a better experience too in my view. So far there are only a few makers who do this, but the trickle is getting bigger and from your point of view that can only be a good thing.

Stay Bubbly

Rosé Champagne - How to Find the One You Love, part 1

Amazingly, it's only just over a month until Valentine's Day and that will inevitably mean that lots of pink champagne will be bought and enjoyed. Over the past few years, demand for the pink stuff has just gone through the roof.

Nowadays just about every champagne maker offers a pink champagne as part of their range, so there’s no shortage to choose from, but how on earth do you go about choosing one rather than another?

Here are some timely tips to help you find the ones you like best.

The first thing to tell you is that pink champagne and rosé champagne are the same – just two different words for the same thing. So sometimes I’ll write rosé and sometimes I might put pink instead.

Next, did you know that rosé champagne can be made in two different ways, giving two very different results? It’s not a question of one being ‘better’ than the other, they’re just different.

To explain, let me start by telling you how still red and rosé wines are made...

Still red wines and still rosé wines are made by pressing black grapes and then letting the skins soak in the juice. The colour in the skins slowly seeps into the juice turning it darker and darker over time. If you leave the skins in the juice for only a few hours, you’ll get just a touch of pink colour in the wine. If you leave them soaking in the juice for a lot longer, you’ll end up with a really dark red, almost black wine.

If you make rosé champagne in this way it’s called ‘Rosé de Saignée’ (pronounced senyay which means to bleed, in French – the colour from the black grapes ‘bleeds’ into the juice)

It’s really tricky to get this process just right. Unless you know exactly what you’re doing you can leave the grapes the grapes too long in the juice and end up with too much colour and worse, an unpleasant bitter taste in the wine that comes from the skins and stalks – not what you want at all!

When you get it right, mind you, you’ll end up with a lovely, rich-coloured rosé champagne, full of those luscious red fruit flavours that you can find in good red wines: raspberries, cherries and blackcurrants with none of that bitterness.

Laurent Perrier Rosé is made like this, so that gives you a benchmark, but there are many others to choose from.

A favourite of mine is Soutiran Rosé Grand Cru.

It's not only a rosé de saignée, it's made entirely with Pinot Noir grapes and has absolutely bags of colour and flavour plus, of course, it's a Grand Cru which is always a good indicator of quality.

Not everyone likes this style. Some people find rosé de saignée just too fruity and ‘full-on’, but if you’re tempted to try some then next time you’re about to buy a bottle of rosé champagne make sure to ask your wine retailer if it’s a rosé de saignée. He/she should be able to tell you.

By the way, big, bold rosé champagne like this goes really well with a whole range of foods, even quite strong-flavoured red meats that you’d probably never think of eating with champagne.Try a rosé de saignée with pigeon, or duck, or lamb – it’s terrrific and also that little bit special!

Next up is ‘Rosé d’Assemblage’ which is by far the more common way to make pink champagne and I'll explain more about that in another blog post tomorrow, so watch this space and...

Stay Bubbly

CHAMPAGNE CLUB

If you're champagne-lover, perhaps you’d like to learn a little more about it and discover some champagnes you’ve never tried before instead of stcking with just a few brands whose names you know?

If that sounds good to you then our new champagne club is just the thing for you. Find out more by clicking here

Grower Champagnes

What are Grower Champagnes and why you should try them.

There’s something stirring in champagne. Perhaps not a full blown revolution just yet, but an irresistable trend nevertheless: the rise and rise of what are called Grower Champagnes.

If you haven’t come across them yet and have never tasted them, then give yourself a treat and try them out. Here’s what they're all about and what you need to look out for....

The change is happening everywhere if you take the time to look around you –

• Micro breweries producing local beers that are more than a match, flavour-wise at least, for the giants of the industry;

• Farmers’ markets where you can discover some fabulous produce and meet the fascinating ‘real’ people who produce or grow it, instead of struggling round the same old supermarkets shelves every week for mass-produced produce.

Well, the same thing’s happening in champagne and that’s where grower champagne comes in....

It’s the return of the small man, or woman, because more and more people are looking for something that gives them not just good value, but a sense of being.... what’s the best word? Perhaps ‘honest’ or ‘ authentic’.

The champagne industry is structured in a really weird way and a quick look at some revealing facts and figures will show you what I mean.

At the top of the ‘glamour ratings’ there are a couple of hundred maisons or champagne houses and amongst these there are a few fabulously famous brands which are sometimes referred to as Les Grandes Maisons – you know the names already: Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Roederer etc etc...

The houses are officially classified as NM or Négociants-Manipulants ( literally dealers and handlers ).

What these two little words mean is that the maisons rely for the majority of their grape supplies on the deals they strike to buy grapes from other grape growers.

In fact the maisons only own about 12% of the vineyards in Champagne, but amazingly sales of their brands represent over 70% of all the champagne that is sold – actually when you’re talking about sales outside France then the percentage is even higher.

So who owns the other vineyards?

Well, there are about 20,000 people who own a few hectares, or acres, each and grow grapes. These are called Récoltants ( Harvesters). 3/4 of these don’t make any champagne at all; they just harvest their grapes and sell them to other people to make champagne.

In most cases it’s the maisons they sell to, but there are around 5,000 of those Récoltants who keep their grapes to make their own champagne. They are then classified as RM or Récoltants-Manipulants and it’s the champagnes made by these small operators that have become known as ‘ Grower Champagnes’

The first and most obvious difference between the large maisons ( NM ) and the grower champagnes ( RM ) is the scale of the operations.

The big houses count their production in tens of millions of bottles – the largest of all, Moët & Chandon, produces over 30 million bottles per year if you count in all the different types of champagne they make. At the other end of the scale, some of the smallest producers may make only around 50,000 bottles.

I don’t want to say anything bad about the big brands, or about the many dedicated and professional people who work for them, I worked right alongside them for 10 years, but no matter how skilful they are, they are nevertheless employees and it’s difficult to see how they can really have the same point of view as the small growers.

For the small producers making champagne is not a job, it’s a way of life and it’s very common for the entire family to be involved and for the vineyards and know-how to be passed from one generation to another.

It’s exactly this type of passion and link to the soil that more and more consumers are looking for these days.

Another major difference between the best of the RM champagnes and the champagnes from the large NM is the price.

To maintain the buzz and glamour around a successful champagne brand takes a lot of investment and it’s obvious that this is reflected in the price the consumer – that’s you and me – pays in the shops.

The small growers don’t have huge marketing machines and don’t have the same costs to bear, so inevitably their champagnes are less expensive.

That’s not to say that all grower champagnes are dirt cheap, they’re not. In fact, if you're looking for a really good champagne for the price of a Cava or Prosecco then I think you're going to be looking for a long time.

What's important though is that the price should be reasonable and should reflect the quality. That’s where the leaders amongst the smaller producers really score, so if you’re looking for value for money then the grower champagnes offer a far better deal.

You can spot grower champagnes by the letters RM that you can find in small letters somewhere on the front label of the champagne bottle, so do keep your eyes open and see if you can find a few in your local wine store.

The next thing will be to discover the names of the better grower champagnes and believe me there are plenty, so many in fact that it will need a second article to deal with them all, so watch this space or better still take a look at our champagne club which is coming soon.

Stay Bubbly