Grower Champagne has always been a slippery concept, but most wine people agree on its meaning. Unofficially, the term refers to an operation, often small, that only produces sparkling wine with a strong focus on a sense of place, as well as a close relationship with farming the land. In its purest sense, it refers exclusively to grape growers who make wine exclusively from their own vineyards. That’s most people’s definition of grower champagne—except, notably, Champagne’s official regulatory body.

As a nod to its trade members’ interests, the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC) defines “grower Champagne” much more broadly, to include growers who sell to large co-operatives, which then produce Champagne and then sell it back to the growers, who then can sell it under their own label. That may be a nerdy splitting of hairs, but it’s a big difference from true grower-producers. These duelling definitions recently led to false claims about grower Champagne in one of wine’s biggest trade magazines, Meininger’s International.

In January, Robert Joseph, Meininger’s reliably contrarian columnist, tried to deflate the category’s appeal in a piece called “The Grower Champagne Success Story That Never Happened.” In it, he mocks the wine cognoscenti for ignoring an “inconvenient truth:” grower Champagne is not popular with the “average fizz drinker.”

Joseph asserts that the success of grower Champagne has been greatly exaggerated, with volumes dropping 7%—from 25 to 18% of the region’s total production since the year 2000. But Joseph also makes the sloppy mistake of confusing the official CIVC terminology with the more widely accepted definition of grower Champagne. So his article was doomed by misinformation before it even began.

Tom Hewson, sparkling wine specialist for Decanter, was the first to point out the issue. Meininger’s, he says, distorts the picture enormously, and also disingenuously suggests a declining category. “Anyone, though, that goes shopping for good grower champagne, visits producers and talks to importers and retailers, will know the real story,” writes Hewson.

Grower Champagne Versus Big Brands

A little over 34,000 hectares of land under vine is designated as Champagne AOP, with 16,200 grape growers responsible for 90% of that land ownership and maintenance. What most drinkers would recognise as a Champagne producer is usually labelled as NM, or négociant-manipulant: “A maison de Champagne that is authorised to buy grapes, must, or wine for the production of Champagne,” according to expert Peter Liem.

There are currently 370 registered Champagne houses in the region, which account for around 70 percent of all wine produced. These are your Veuve Cliquots, Moët & Chandons, Ruinarts, and so forth. Very few of these estates own any significant land, and instead rely on purchasing grapes from and managing contracts with a myriad of growers, blending wines from vineyards scattered across the region. This is the model of Champagne that has existed and thrived for many happy and profitable decades.

Yet look a little more closely and there are some hastily concealed cracks in the foundation. Perhaps the largest of these is the increasing gap between these traditional Champagne houses—the iconic brands that furnish most wine lists, supermarket shelves, and product placement opportunities in the media—with the increasing success of grower Champagne.

As Tom Hewson puts it in Decanter: “How is it, then, that every importer I know spends their days scrabbling around for tiny allocations, even from new growers? What caused all those empty stock rooms I have been seeing? Why are the prices for grower wines so high?” This is a source of discomfort for vested interests, such as the bigger houses, who may see change as a threat.

What Is True Grower Champagne?

Grower Champagne once was easily identifiable as RM, or récoltant-manipulant, a producer that makes Champagne exclusively from grapes from their own vineyards. However, increasingly outrageous land prices have forced many such producers to open contracts with other growers, in order to meet demand for their wine. Still, a great many of these grower-producers previously sold their grapes to the big Champagne houses before deciding to produce their own, site-specific Champagne, which is an increasingly common story in the region.

Arguably the first, true grower Champagne was Salon, in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Now a legend of the Côte des Blancs, this was originally produced for the private consumption of Salon’s owner, Eugène-Aimé Salon, back in 1905. Eventually, other producers also started to experiment with site-specific Champagne. Philipponnat created Clos des Goisses in 1935, and Krug’s iconic Clos du Mesnil was first vinified in 1979. But neither fit the modern definition of grower Champagne, as both are larger, more traditional producers who only vinify a small plot of their own land. (See? It’s a slippery term.)

Grower Champagne, as we now know it, came about as a reaction to the corporate arrogance of the 1970s and a related indifference of fruit quality—fruit that was bought and sold in grotesque quantities. Even today, Champagne is littered with non-biodegradable plastic waste, a side effect of using general Parisian waste as compost as recently as the 1990s.

Grower Champagne is a reaction against lazy viticulture, and a reaction against the power of brands over the power of wine. Movements as large as this never come down to a single event or individual, though some have larger impacts than others. Anselme Selosse, of the now-legendary Domaine Jacques Selosse, was the inspiration for dozens of today’s most famous grower-producers. After he took over his father’s estate in 1974, it took him fewer than 10 years to implement ideas he took from his time working in Burgundy: farming organically, reducing yields, and most importantly, focusing on producing high-quality base wines.

David White tells the origin story of grower Champagne in the U.S. In the 1980s, Kermit Lynch began importing J. Lassalle and Paul Bara, both smaller, family-owned wineries from the Montagne de Reims. Importers and writers alike realized there was change afoot, and championed these terroir-focused smaller producers. Other prominent voices such as Terry Theise celebrated these wines, and how far more expressive of place they were than the typical Champagne houses.

Modern superstars, like Cédric Bouchard (Roses de Jeanne) and Olivier Collin (Ulysse Collin) began their productions within the first few years of the 21st century. Thereafter, in relatively short order, grower Champagne became the darling of sommeliers across the world and the subject of many a glowing article. Its quick rise to prominence was organic and inspirational, which makes articles like the one published by Meininger’s particularly frustrating.

Grower Champagne’s Impact

This movement on Champagne has shaken up a region long famous for championing the art of blending over terroir, and drinkers have responded. Joseph would have done well to consider one simple fact: famous grower Champagne is now often simply unavailable in retail outlets. I recall drinking 2014 Roses de Jeanne Val Vilaine in a wine shop in Balham, London, for £50 plus £5 corkage, as recently as 2017. It now sells for four times as much on the secondary market.

Meanwhile, tellingly, traditional Champagne producers now make single-site Champagne from their own holdings. Between 1995 and 1996, Krug’s Clos d’Ambonnay, Jacquesson’s Vauzelle Terme and Billecart-Salmon’s Clos Saint-Hilaire all released their first vintage.

Changes to viticulture and land management are even more revealing. The move towards organic viticulture has been swift. By 2021, 2,672 hectares of vineyards were certified organic, with 1,500 additional hectares in the process of conversion. Today, over 60% of the region’s vineyards are now managed under a sort of environmentally focused certification, and more than 40% achieved Sustainable Viticulture in Champagne (VDC), according to the CIVC. Further, the new buzzword in Champagne is regenerative viticulture, a process which focuses on restoration and regeneration of soil health while trapping carbon emissions there, too.

The occasional wrongheaded article aside, the future looks bright for grower Champagne. It’s easy to see a future in which larger, more generic producers will feel the squeeze, while producers with a loyal following for their smaller, more distinctive productions will continue to thrive. A sense of place and interest remain key factors in the world of fine wine. So long as grower Champagnes are able to tell their story, there will be people willing to listen. I, for one, will be, and you should, too.

Growers To Grab

A crucial aspect of grower Champagne is an ability to reflect specific areas, be it a single village or even a single vineyard site. We’ve organized these growers by the traditional subregions of Champagne to make the geographical connection more transparent.

Aube

Roses de Jeanne “Val Vilaine” Blanc de Noirs. A varietal blanc de noirs produced as a zero dosage, vintage wine, typically bottled at lower pressure to create a more vinous impression. The results are stunning, with a near perfect balance between the richness of the Pinot Noir fruit, savory characters and freshness. Increasingly difficult to find outside of very good restaurants, but that’s no reason not to look! 

Côte des Blancs

Pierre Péters “Cuvée de Réserve” Brut.  If it’s the essence of flinty, chalky Chardonnay you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place. A blend of 100% Chardonnay from various grand cru sites, this is chiselled, focused and so very bright. Only 24 months on the lees to add a little texture, but this is all about the unadulterated, pure Chardonnay fruit.

Côte de Sézanne

Barrat-Masson “Les Voiles” Brut Nature. A comparatively new producer to the scene, Barrat-Masson are now the standard bearers for the Côte de Sézanne where their small, organic production has thrived since 2010. A blend of 50% Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with zero dosage, the ripeness of these more southerly sites shines through. Only 1,400 bottles produced per year.

Montagne de Reims

Egly-Ouriet Champagne “Tradition” Brut Grand Cru. A flagship wine in Montagne de Reims and for grower Champagne as a category. A good amount of Pinot Noir from their holdings in Ambonnay makes the base for this, fortified by 30% of steely Chardonnay before ageing for 48 months on the lees. This is a larger scale, toastier Champagne where the strength of the Pinot Noir fruit comes to the fore. A classic. 

Vallée de la Marne

Moussé Fils “L'Or d'Eugène” Perpetuelle Blanc de Noirs Brut. A Pinot Meunier dominant blend that uses a perpetual reserve to constantly maintain the balance between the freshness of new wine, and the depth of flavour that mature wines bring. Juicy, red-fruited, and supple; a standard bearer for the Pinot Meunier and the Vallée de la Marne since 1750.

Other producers of note:

Bérêche et Fils, Ulysse Collin, Jacques Lassaigne, Etienne Calsac, Agrapart et Fils, Jacques Selosse, Larmandier-Bernier, Charles Dufour, Marie-Courtin, Marguet, Benoît Lahaye, and Georges Laval