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Situated 145 kilometers (90 miles) east of Paris is Champagne, a region spanning 35,208 hectares across chalk and limestone soils. Champagne produces over 300 million bottles of sparkling wine each year and brings in 20% of France’s wine revenue, though it only accounts for 4% of all French vineyard land. From the Massif de Saint-Thierry in the north to the upstart Aube in the south, there are over 36,000 landowners within the AOC, with 56% owning less than one hectare.
By numbers, prestige, and popularity, this is one of the world’s most important winemaking regions. This guide will dive into the grapes, places, and styles that make Champagne so special.
Champagne is the most northerly major wine region in France. It is located approximately 300 kilometers southeast of the United Kingdom and 145 kilometers east of Paris. This position determines Champagne’s climate, the most important factor of terroir when distinguishing Champagne from the rest of the sparkling wine world. Nowhere else can Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier grapes be grown on such a vast scale and achieve ripeness at a low ABV and a high level of acidity.
The low alcohol and high acid of Champagne’s base wines result in a lean structure ideal for bottle fermentation. Because of the fresh, crisp, undeveloped flavors of these wines, Champagne can seamlessly soak up the slowly evolving, yeast-complexed aromas of autolysis. Of all the factors contributing to Champagne’s terroir, climate and location are by far the most important. The height and slope of Champagne’s vineyards, and even its famous chalk soil, are secondary, as important as they may be in defining differences in relative quality.
Throughout history, Champagne’s boundaries have at times extended north into modern-day Belgium, south into Burgundy, west and southwest into the Loire Valley, and east into Lorraine. The boundaries of Champagne’s sparkling wine appellation itself have been fought over as recently as 1911 and were shrunk by the Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO) in 1951. Today, Champagne is separated from Belgium by the forested hills of the Ardennes, and its vineyards are spread across five departments: Marne (66% of Champagne’s vineyards), Aube (23%), Aisne (10%), Haute-Marne (0.002%), and Seine-et-Marne (1%).
The Champagne appellation consists of three zones: the zone de l’élaboration, the zone de production, and the zone parcellaire de production de raisins. The zone de l’élaboration marks the outer limits of the region, the rough-hewn area one might visualize on a map of French wine regions. This is the only part of the region where it is legal to vinify Champagne, or to transport Champagne grapes, juice, and wine, in bulk and in bottle, that have not yet been commercialized. Most of this zone cannot be planted. It is composed of 637 communes.
The zone de production is the next largest, consisting of entire villages in which vines may be cultivated. It is composed of 319 communes covering approximately 300,000 hectares. The zone parcellaire de production de raisinsconsists of a lacework of delimited viticultural parcels, representing only 35,208 hectares (of which, in 2019, 34,267 hectares were planted and 33,828 hectares were in production), a fraction of the surface area of the zone de production. It is also composed of 319 communes.
Though Champagne has various soils, it is best known for its chalk. On the slopes, belemnite chalk subsoils, derived from the fossilized remains of cephalopods, are sometimes exposed at the surface, helping retain heat and provide good drainage for the vines. Micraster chalk, composed of fossil material from an extinct genus of sea urchin, is found to a lesser extent, generally in the flatter valley vineyards. A thin layer of clay and sand covers much of the chalk in Champagne. In the Aube, the dominant soil type is not chalk but clay.
Champagne’s climate makes for an entirely unique growing region, one that is, in many ways, unsuited to viticulture. Frost or hail destroys an average of 5% of Champagne’s vineyards every year, while Atlantic-driven rain can impact flowering, makes the control of fungal diseases difficult, and has ruined many promising harvests. Yet these conditions allow producers to make great sparkling wine in significant volumes most of the time. To navigate the challenge of producing the requisite volume or quality, or both, the Champenois historically developed their own economic strategy by storing wines in times of plenty and blending different years. No other region has been able to valorize nonvintage wines to the extent that Champagne has, and no other region comes close to producing the same proportions of its wines (85% to 90%) in this format.
Comparing Champagne’s climatic norms with the minimum levels required for commercial viticulture demonstrates that Champagne is not just a cool-climate region; it is very cool and, even with the threat of global warming, on the edge of practical viticulture.
The growing season daily mean temperature has risen from 14.3 degrees Celsius (57.7 degrees Fahrenheit; the average over 40 years from the 1950s to the 1980s) to 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit) in the 1990s. There has been a much sharper rise, to 16.6 degrees Celsius (61.9 degrees Fahrenheit), in the new millennium. The number of sunshine hours has increased 9.3% since the late 1970s, when it averaged 1,537 hours, which was barely over the assumed minimum. This low sunshine was especially acute as the angle of sun at 49 degrees latitude is only 65 degrees at the height of summer and drops to 49 degrees in the winter.
Champagne’s climate is dictated by its northerly location, between the 48th and 49th parallels, and by the oceanic effect of the Atlantic and the continental effect of the European landmass. Here, the last vestiges of a continental climate counter the ocean’s wet and windy impact. The Atlantic Ocean is often said to have a moderating effect, but it could equally be said that the continental climate has a moderating effect on the amount of wind and rain generated by the Atlantic. Champagne is precariously positioned, existing in a slightly shifting climatic corridor that is not truly dominated by either oceanic or continental influences.
When a high-pressure system on the western edge of Europe is weak, or a low-pressure system heading in from the Atlantic is strong, Champagne will receive days of prolonged downpour. The most powerful low-pressure systems to hit western Europe are the remnants of Atlantic hurricanes, and the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is from mid-August to late October, which coincides with the harvest and its immediate lead-up in Champagne.
Diurnal shift—the difference between the highest daytime temperature and lowest nighttime temperature (most often induced by nightly downdrafts of chilly air)—is key in any sparkling wine region, as a significant diurnal shift ensures acid preservation. In Champagne, the diurnal difference is extremely dependent on the time of year, with a classic September or October harvest delivering a diurnal difference of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius (18 to 27 degrees Fahrenheit), whereas an August harvest will benefit from only 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit). Because this reduced diurnal difference is insufficient to halt the vine’s metabolism, ripening continues and acids plummet. The first August harvest in the history of Champagne was in 2003, and there have been no fewer than five August harvests since, which is clear evidence of the region’s warming climate. The reduced diurnal difference does not mean that August harvests cannot produce high-quality Champagne, but it does not make high quality easy.
Although rarely seen today, Gouais Blanc is the parent or direct ancestor of more than 80 different European grape varieties through natural or spontaneous crossing, including Chardonnay (with Pinot Noir) and Petit Meslier (with Savagnin Blanc), making it part of Champagne’s DNA. Gouais is also a cousin of all the Pinot varieties, but most surviving examples are restricted to the Haut-Valais, in Switzerland (where it is known as Gwäss), and Piedmont, in Italy (under the name Preveiral or Liseiret). Despite its often-illustrious offspring, Gouais itself typically makes ordinary wine.
The Comité interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC) began its clonal research program in the 1960s. The intent was to develop a clone of Pinot Noir that could resist the frosts in the Marne Valley and, as the more noble variety, be used in the replanting of the district’s predominantly Meunier vineyards. By the 1980s, a more pragmatic view of Meunier acknowledged that this grape was not just an asset to Champagne but essential to its reputation, and researchers were tasked with setting up a true clonal program for Meunier as well.
When grading Champagne clones, top Burgundian clones are seldom recommended, as the characteristics required are almost the opposite of those for still wines. This applies to Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir, although the margins of difference for the latter are much greater. All sparkling wine clones require significantly higher acids and lower potential alcohol than clones used for still wines, but, in the case of Pinot Noir, a sparkling wine clone must also have the lowest possible phenolics and minimal color. Even a Pinot Noir clone used to color a rosé Champagne through blending would not rate highly as a red wine clone, because, although the color for both styles of wine should be deep, any noticeable tannins should be avoided in the latter.
There is no such thing as the perfect clone for any style of wine. The best clone found on one site will always behave differently on other sites, because a vine’s performance is modified by factors such as soil, climate, rootstock, and viticultural practices. However supposedly superior any individual clone might be, it would be irresponsible to plant any vineyard block with a single clone. Its lack of genetic variation would render the entire block susceptible to disease and provide no insurance against any natural fluctuations in yield or fruit quality.
Chardonnay
Chardonnay was historically misleadingly referred to as Pinot Chardonnay or Pineau Chardonnet, which is why the morphologically similar (but genetically and genealogically different) Pinot Blanc became known as Pinot Blanc Vrai or Pineau Blanc Vrai (True Pinot Blanc).
Chardonnay has the earliest bud burst of all Champagne grape varieties and is easily recognized in the vineyards at this stage by its fluffy buds, which are white with a gold edging. The classic area for Chardonnay is the Côte des Blancs, where the style ranges from floral in Cramant to intensely mineral in Le Mesnil. Running a close second is the eastern Montagne de Reims, where the villages of Trépail and Villers-Marmery can rival the greatest of the Côte des Blancs. Montagne Chardonnay has an emphatic minerality but is less chalky, with fruit that has more body and structure without any appreciable gain in weight. Chardonnay from the Côte de Sézanne is more overt but, with careful selection, can be very fine, while that from the Monts de Berru, north of the Montagne de Reims, is light and delicate, and that of Vitryat shares both lightness and minerality. Chardonnay maintains freshness in the bottle, is typically the last to exert itself in a blend, and has a natural tendency to show toasty aromas. Typically the longest lived of Champagne’s grape varieties, Chardonnay in classic examples has a linear structure with a very long, tapering, creamy finish.
There are 31 Chardonnay clones allowed in Champagne.
10,414 hectares (30.3%)
Pinot Noir
Known in Champagne as Plant Doré, Morillon, Noirien, and Auvernat long before the emergence of Pinot or Pineau, the Pinot Noir of Burgundy fame has a slight oxidative tendency in the production of sparkling wine. In purely relative terms, Pinot Noir does not age quite as well or maintain as much freshness in bottle as Chardonnay, but, arguably, it provides a more complex, highly mineral-driven wine. Because it is more difficult to ripen than Chardonnay, growers will refer to a Pinot Noir vintage only in the greatest years, while every year may be described as a Chardonnay vintage.
Blanc de noirs are rare compared with blanc de blancs, and not all blanc de noirs are pure Pinot Noir. Most are a blend of Pinot Noir and Meunier. There are almost 800 clones of Pinot Noir cataloged in France, all of which are conserved in collections in Alsace, Burgundy, and Champagne.
In Champagne, 43 Pinot Noir clones are allowed.
13,163 hectares (38.3%)
Meunier
Meunier, like Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, is a mutation of Pinot Noir. It dates to at least the 16th century. By the mid-19th century, it accounted for three-quarters of all the vineyards in the Aisne. Meunier is easily recognized in the vineyard by its leaves, the undersides of which are white as if dusted with flour, hence its name (meunier is French for “miller,” as in a miller of flour). It grows easily and is significantly hardier than Pinot Noir, with slightly larger yet still quite small berries that form looser clusters, making it more resistant, though not immune, to rot. Generally, the wines from Meunier lack the depth, elegance, and persistence of Pinot Noir, yet they typically produce fruity wines that are attractive and easy to drink. Because the Meunier component of a blend usually peaks earlier and recedes relatively quickly, many producers prefer to use Meunier for nonvintage cuvées. But when grown at reasonably modest yields in villages such as Sainte-Gemme, Leuvrigny, and Hautvillers, in the central Marne Valley, Meunier can be outstanding in both its immediate appeal and potential longevity. Few blanc de noirs are pure Meunier.
There are 14 Meunier clones allowed in Champagne.
10,688 hectares (31.1%)
Ancient Survivors
For four varieties that in total represent a tiny proportion of all the vines growing in Champagne today, Arbanne, Fromenteau, Petit Meslier, and Pinot Blanc receive a disproportionate amount of attention. Together, these grapes account for 103 planted hectares, or just 0.3% of the Champagne vineyard.