Sarah Heller MW dives into what's coming up next in Champagne with Les Caves Du Forum
During my visit to Champagne this summer I made a pilgrimage to one of France’s great wine shops, awarded Cellar of the Year in 2013 and Best Caviste in 2017 by La Revue du Vin de France. Though Les Caves stocks wines from all over the world in its 16th-century vaulted cellars buried nine metres under the Forum of Reims, the clear specialty (as is entirely appropriate) is champagne and especially grower champagne. Though sadly owner Fabrice Parisot was out of town during my visit, I reached out to get his insider views on what is afoot in the world of small-production, estate-grown champagne (this interview has been translated and edited for length and clarity).
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How many champagne brands are available at your shop and roughly how many of those are from vignerons?
Around 180 brands. 170 are vignerons (growers), with roughly 600 individual cuvées.
Among the customers who visit your shop, have there been any changes in the types of champagne they request over the past five to ten years?
Customers are increasingly focused on grower champagnes, which have an identity closer to the world of wine as relates to terroir. Meanwhile, dosage has been trending towards brut nature [no dosage] for ten years, but for the last three to four years it has been returning to extra brut, between two to six grams per litre.
What are some major winemaking or stylistic trends you are seeing among RM (Récoltant-Manipulant) and Houses in Champagne?
The dosage trend I mentioned above applies to both growers and large maisons. Trends towards oak fermentation and single-plot wines have added great value for the Grandes Marques [big champagne houses]. These trends created the qualitative difference ten years ago between growers who were early adopters of these trends and the big houses who remained focused on “Champagne, the blended wine par excellence.” Now big houses are also turning to parcels as well as the other four grapes to create diversity in their premium lines.
For a customer who doesn't know much about Champagne, how do you explain the major stylistic differences between grower champagnes and Grandes Marques (if you believe there is a clear distinction)?
There is an important distinction between newly established growers (starting from scratch) and those taking over existing estates (with reserve wines available). So, there is a style difference within the grower champagne category too, because those taking over existing estates also have signature styles like the big houses. Reserve wines are important because without them, the vintage becomes more important and climatic hazards become what impacts the style of the wine. Then, much depends on the style of the customer: do they want to discover something new every year or the identifiable style of the vigneron?
Finally, advising a customer who is discovering champagne is the most difficult because it requires guessing what they want in champagne. Do they seek a specific flavour they have already tasted (usually a wine from a large house), or instead the desire to dust off that image? In the latter case, the vintage effect, the individual plot, the subregion, the type of soil or the vinification method will all affect a wine experience.
What is your opinion of the trend towards single-site champagnes and do you have any favourites?
The development of single-plot cuvées by a few pioneering, avant-garde growers made it possible to approach lovers of non-sparkling wines. The latter, always in search of terroir and site-specificity, brought their notion of “terroir” to Champagne, which was different from the consistent signature style preferred by the Grandes Marques for centuries. The enthusiasm among wine lovers has been spectacular since the beginning of the 2000s. Now, the major houses have taken up this idea and are developing new single-plot cuvées at the highest price points. Champagne can now count itself among the great speculative wines.
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Are there any relatively new Champagne producers you frequently recommend to people who visit your shop?
Yes, a lot. We discover around two to three new producers a month. We are recognised among merchants and importers as scouts for new champagne growers; a sort of breeding ground for young people who are setting up shop. Our customers worldwide know this and that’s what they come looking for—to discover. For example: Hubert Noiret, Guillaume Sergent, Pierre Baillette and his children, Cazé-Thibault, Antoine Bouvet.
How do you find out about new grower champagnes?
On the ground, by going on-site; young growers who are just setting up tell us of future growers who are taking over their parents’ vines. We’re also approached by young talent aware of our positioning who want to benefit from our distribution expertise and pool of customers, importers, journalists and bloggers.
For the past few years, several commentators have said the grower champagne sector is in trouble and that many growers' businesses are not economically sustainable—do you think there's any truth to that or are you more optimistic?
Yes and no… It’s very complex. No, in that those who knew how to innovate 15 years ago (Bérêche, Chartogne-Taillet, Savart) have been able to become references for the big houses (witness the parcellaire approach) and have inspired a new dynamic evident at events like Champagne Week or La Fête in New York City.
Yes, in that many small producers who did not get onboard 15 years ago—who didn’t innovate or question themselves and simply took over their estates without changing practices—are paying a heavy toll today that will be even heavier tomorrow. There are many reasons: Many small producers (2-4 hectares) sold their champagne at the estate from generation to generation. Consumers were seeking a consistent style and the producers perpetuated that style of the “Cuvée Old School”. The clientele is ageing and modes of consumption have changed; influenced by magazines and guides, customers are no longer looking for 24 bottles of the same vintage but rather 24 different vintages. Many such producers have never developed their export markets or even the HORECA (hotel/restaurant/café) channel and so cannot absorb current production costs. Now, they cannot innovate or overhaul their brands to develop site-specific or identity-driven cuvées.
Another important point is the high price per kilogram of grapes, which deters many small producers. Some prefer to collect an income by signing contracts with large houses rather than risk failure by modifying their range and seeking a new clientele. Other young “wine growers” who take over family operations, given the price, just prefer selling per kilogram like cereal growers. But the worst will be when the day comes that négociants, large buyers by the kilogram, decide to significantly lower the price and the sellers will have no choice but to sell their hectares.
When you taste wines from a new producer and are considering adding them to your shop, what are you looking for?
We are always looking for new talented producers who will add to our complex mosaic of cuvées, which reflects all the identities of Champagne: the regions, soils, grape, climates and grape varieties. We look for a specific style of winemaking, above all a great diversity, whether natural or conventional, as long as it is well made and representative of its terroir.
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