The term Grower Champagne refers to a producer who owns the vineyards, grows the grapes, and makes their own wine - Champagne farmers.
There have always been Grower Champagnes produced in Champagne, and many of those who we are now importing have been making Champagne for many generations. So, what’s changed that these producers are now exporting and gaining attention worldwide? It’s a question that I posed to many a Champenoise whilst there, the response as you’d expect – varied.
It could be that there are now more growers who are working collectively and as such have a far stronger voice and have become somewhat of a movement. Another school of thought proposed is that consumers are looking for something different, an individual voice and character; These wines are loaded with that. Popularity has certainly increased in the UK and in places like New York to a level where there are many top wine lists that are now 100% Grower Champagnes.
The CIVB reports that there’s a total of 15,000 growers in Champagne, of this, 3,200 pack and sell their Champagne. The balance will sell to the negocoaints, or are part of a co- operative. The result is four different categories of Champagne produced.
• · Récoltant-manipulant - a grower, someone that owns the land, tends it, makes the wine, and sells it.
• · Co-operative - manipulant – a co-operative of growers, where several growers bring their grapes together and the co-operative makes and sells the wine.
• · Négociant-manipulant – a negociant house that may own some land and grow grapes, though will also purchase grapes.
• · Then you have buyers own brands which are made generally by one big house.
So, is small better? These Grower Champagnes are certainly very interesting and quality fine wines.
The conclusion I came to in Champagne though is that all these categories have so much to offer - they just offer different things. It’s not about better, it’s about diversity.
The big houses, the negociants, have the skill, resource, and hundreds of years of experience to ensure consistency in quality year-in and year-out. Let’s face it, you try a bottle of Veuve NV in Auckland and then in New York and you know what you are getting- it’s Veuve. Whether it’s buying a bottle for a special occasion, or it's buying a bottle just because it’s Friday, having something that you know, and love is just perfect. As for the growers, these are very individual expressions, wines of character and personality. So, looking for something different, these are going to be just the right thing.
Grower Champagnes do tend to represent excellent value for money. This could be linked to the relative obscurity in the international market until recently; one thing that Grower Champagnes don’t do a lot of is marketing.
Their focus is purely on growing the best fruit and producing the best wine - they are farmers. Without the additional layers of cost, these are well priced wines.
Glengarry have an excellent range of Grower Champagnes. In even better news, we have good stocks of these ready for you in store or online with delivery available nationwide.
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Published 3 December 2021