The most notable phenomenon in the grower Champagne universe in the last twenty years has been the shift to site-specific, single terroir Champagnes. As a counterpoint to the ruling cult of blending, growers have started to play to their strengths: the intimate understanding and deep attachment to their terroirs.
I became fascinated by the trend early on, and researched the topic for my Master of Wine dissertation back in 2006. At the time, examples of growers’ single-vineyard Champagnes were few and far between. Pierre Péters had been bottling its majestic Le Mesnil-sur-Oger’s Les Chétillons plots separately since 1971, labelling the wine as Spécial Club originally. Leclerc-Briant was at the forefront of the evolution when it launched Les Authentiques trilogy of single-vineyard Champagnes from Cumières in 1994, and Claude Cazals first produced its Oger jewel Clos Cazals in 1995.
The choice of which site to use often comes down to vine age
At the turn of the millennium, the rise of the new wave growers, led by domaines like Jacques Selosse and Egly-Ouriet, was quickly changing the grower Champagne scene. Increased efforts in the vineyards soon brought about a strengthening terroir focus, which the next generation adopted and took further. This has revamped the growers’ Champagne ranges, as today, at most of the trendsetting domaines, single-vineyard (or other site-specific) Champagnes make up the top tier of the range.
It might be, as in the case of Clos Cazals and Les Chétillons, that a plot is so special that a single-vineyard bottling is the obvious way to go. Champagne’s many clos (or walled vineyards), fall naturally into this category. In this report we are featuring the gems from Marc Hebrart’s Clos Le Léon in Dizy, Etienne Calsac’s Clos des Maladries in Avize, Doyard’s Clos de l’Abbaye in Vertus and José Michel’s Clos Saint Jean in Saint-Agnan.
Single-vineyard Champagnes are often made from the producer’s best vineyard. The choice of which site to use often comes down to vine age. The concentrated production of old vines make up the heart and soul of Vilmart & Cie’s Blanc de Blancs from Les Blanches Voies in Rilly-la-Montagne, Marguet’s La Grande Ruelle from Ambonnay and Suenen’s La Cocluette from Oiry.
But sometimes there is something else behind the uniqueness of a plot. A handful of spots in Champagne have managed to resist to phylloxera and grow ungrafted vines. Such rare success at Chartogne-Taillet’s Les Barres in Merfy and at Nicolas Maillart’s Les Coupés in Écueil have inspired single-vineyard bottlings.
Read more: The Grower Champagne Report 2023
Some single-vineyard wines are born of curious co-plantations of ancient Champagne varieties. Etienne Calsac crafts his Les Revenants from co-pressed Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier and Arbane in the Sézanne. Mouzon Leroux’s Verzy Les Fervins 7 Cépage, meanwhile, blends all seven of Champagne’s permitted varieties in equal proportions. Down south in the Côte ds Bar, Domaine Alexandre Bonnet (pictured above) has planted all seven grapes in its La Géande plot in Les Riceys, while in Cumières, Geoffroy’s Les Houtrants Complantés includes five of the seven varieties.
Then we have the extremists with deeply Burgundian philosophies, who craft single-vineyard Champagnes exclusively. Take a look at the ranges of Ulysse Collin and Cédric Bouchard Roses de Jeanne, for example, whose fine wines illustrate the power and precision of Champagne’s single-vineyards. Both producers are crafting some of the region’s most interesting Champagnes. Ulysse Collin’s cuvées from Coteaux du Val Morin and Sézannais, with their perfectionist crafting, earned several top positions in this report. Down south in Côte des Bar, Cédric Bouchard – in his almost anti-Champenois ways – crafts single-vineyard, single-variety, single-vintage wines with gentler bubbles that add to the hugely dynamic and highly individualistic grower Champagne offering today.
