GROWERS AND SHOWERS!

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GROWERS AND SHOWERS!
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• Bubbles.  Bubbles are good.  Sparkling wine, even
  better.  Better still, Champagne.  So, then, what
  exactly is Grower Champagne?

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• To best answer that, lets start with a brief
  bubbly tutorial.  Feel free to skip this part if
  youre one of those people who feel obligated to
  correct the server if they dont open the
  Champagne bottle the way you were taught (we know
  who we are). 

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• All Grower Champagne is Champagne all Champagne
  is sparkling wine all sparkling wine, however,
  is not Champagne.  To be true Champagne, wine
  must A) originate from the Champagne region of
  France, B) contain only the legally approved
  grape varietals, and C) be produced through the
  method champenoise, a difficult and scientific
  way to make wine that includes secondary
  fermentation, bottle racking, and an inordinate
  amount of lab geek stuff well beyond the normal
  wine geek stuff.

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• Legalities aside (my motto, you cant have it!),
  Champagne has a status edge over all other
  sparkling wines, and for once a blindly accepted
  reputation is well-earned.  Certain other parts
  of the globe (Oregon, Italy, Spain, especially
  Austria) are making quality strides, but its
  tough to rival Champagne. 

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• The vast majority of Champagne production (over
  80) falls to negociants those who buy grapes
  others have grown.  Small and large companies
  alike that do so follow such strict guidelines
  that they produce uniformly consistent sparkling
  wines of excellent quality.

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• Grower Champagne differs in that the people who
  own the vineyards and grow the actual grapes also
  produce the wine and take it to market.  While
  its a small amount of overall Champagne
  production, its a category growing in size,
  stature and public opinion. 

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• Or at least privately held public opinion. 
  Grower Champagne retains the elegance, balance,
  vivacity and joy generally associated with
  Champagne, but adds a level of deep soul to the
  process.  More grip, more gravitas, more juice to
  the juice.

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• Valerie Masten, National Sales Manager for
  Michael Skurnik Imports, has the good fortune to
  represent the Grower Champagnes from the Terry
  Theise portfolio.  Consequently, when she hosts a
  Grower Champagne tasting symposium, flacks flock
  from miles aroundsometimes, even other
  Winemakers interrupt harvest activities to
  attend!  At just such a recent affair, Valerie
  shared several new releases, multiple astute
  observations, and palpable excitement equal to
  many of the Champagnes she shared.
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• Observation 1) In Champagne, growers are paid by
  tonnage, and with younger vines showing more
  vigor of volume, old vine (vieilles vignes en
  Française) selections are quite rare.

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• Jean Milan primarily utilizes chardonnay vines
  that are 70 years of age.  Combined with the
  soil of the Oger viticultural zone (heavy chalk,
  low PH), the wines display bracing acidity,
  extensive minerality, and, in my own personal
  experience, a marked propensity for diverse
  complexity with extended bottle age. 

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• Another producer with a cadre of older vines,
  Marc Hébrart, happens to also be Valeries
  favorite.  Guess what?  She chose well.  The
  standard non-vintage Hébrart is comprised of 80
  pinot noir and 20 chardonnay, which creates a
  dramatic tension of red fruit versus white chalk
  that Val finds electrifying.

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• Observation 2) The Ampelos Charter is gaining
  traction with Grower Champagne.  At its essence,
  the trend toward sustainable / organic /
  biodynamic methods for grapegrowing and
  winemaking is a definitive force in virtually
  every wine region on the planet, Old World and
  New World alike.  In Champagne, a region known
  for conformity of House Style thats
  consistently dependable and more about science
  than art, such an individualistic bent seems
  quite counter-intuitive in general, yet plays
  directly to the strengths of Grower Champagne.

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• René Geoffroy is an effusive proponent of Ampelos
  principles.  His meticulous attention to detail
  includes the use of a rare Coquard wine press, in
  turn resulting in delicate Champagne of cerebral
  expression and hot-wire energy.  Another strong
  Ampelos enthusiast is Cedric Moussé, whose winery
  is 100 geothermal energy-driven, featuring
  underground springs and solar powered equipment. 
  The non-vintage Moussé blanc de noirs is entirely
  from red grapes (85 pinot meunier, 15 pinot
  noir), and its a gusher, full of beautiful
  berries and compelling complexity (not to mention
  fabulously frothy mousse) (come on, you didnt
  see that coming?).

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• Observation 3)  Champagne was all about pinot
  noir and chardonnay, with pinot meunier playing a
  supporting role, for seemingly centuries, until
  recently.  Certain Grower Champagnes have
  reverted to ancient history and revived the
  inclusion of other legally allowed but rarely
  seen varietals, including petit meslier, arbanne
  and fromenteau. 

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• Twin brothers Pierre and Philippe Aubry are the
  most prolific practitioners of this micro-trend,
  farming over a third of all the Champagne acreage
  of these obscure varietals (as well as always
  including pinot meunier in their end blends). 
  The unique singularity of the Aubry Champagne
  lineup is remarkable intense, intriguing,
  exhilarating. 

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• Their revolutionary approach pays off with
  sparklers that put the AMP in Champagne (but,
  conversely, they leave out the PAIN while
  availing oneself of a bottle of Aubry is not an
  inexpensive endeavor, they could easily triple
  their prices and no one would blink) (or maybe
  theyd blink, but then theyd taste, and then
  theyd do some rapid-fire eye-twitching when
  comparing it to a whole slew of big name
  negociant Champagnes charging a good deal more
  and delivering a great deal less) (which,
  technically speaking, is the polar opposite of a
  great deal).

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• All Grower Champagnes can be identified by the
  initials RM on the bottle, signifying
  Récoltant-Manipulant (essentially Grower
  Produced).  My suggestion?  Not to burst your
  bubble, but Champagne isnt only for celebration,
  its whats for dinner and lunch, and brunch,
  and happy hour and I say, next time you pop
  that cork, go Grower.      

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