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welcome
What could be better than Spring in Champagne?! One minute the harshly pruned trees in the Place du Forum look sadly bare. By the end of the week, they’re covered in buds, shoots, leaves and life! The weather was glorious, and the sheer number of champagne tastings impossible to manage
Kaaren Palmer
Kaaren Palmer Champagne
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Printemps de Champagne
Printemps de Champagne this year showcased over 300 offerings, mostly around Reims. Impossible! My full report will appear in Sara Underdown’s inaugural on-line magazine, Vine and Bubble.
In the stunning Reims town hall Printemps de Champagne 2018.For visitors to
Reims, a free driverless shuttle will transport passengers the 500 metres between the Champagne-Ardennes station and the tram stop at Bézannes. Although on a trial basis, the convenience of a quick trip into the centre of Reims, without the difficulties of calling a taxi from the box outside the station, will be welcomed by the traveller with luggage, such as myself. Handy tram stops located through the centre of Reims will also shorten the journey to accommodation for many people. Your trip can become Airport-TGV-Shuttle-Tram, and your journey will be in the shortest possible time.
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General Champagne News
Champagne Numbers from the Champagne Bureau
Key take-outs
- Australia is Number 6 in the world for consumption of champagne (outside France)
- Plantings of Chardonnay have increased a percent or so at the expense of the Meunier
- We’re importing more Houses and more small domaines.
Read more
‘Our’ house champagne, Palmer
of course, has launched a new website. You can check it out here
Champagne Palmer is available in Australia from: JJ Peyre at Paradox Wines
Just make sure that you ship it during the cool seasons.
Image courtesy of Champagne Palmer
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Champagne Gosset
joins the extra-brut crowd, with their new cuvée. Read all about it here
Champagne Guiborat
Jono Hersey, whose family has purchased Ross Duke’s French Wine Centre, is offering a pre-shipment price on well-regarded Champagne Guiborat (Cramant). It’s very popular among the cognoscenti, and he’s only receiving a small allocation. I’m getting some, and so should you, but don’t be greedy!
To purchase click here
Veuve Clicquot 2008 Rosé
Here’s a reminder to buy some. We enjoyed a delicious glass at Chateau Les Crayères. And an interesting article from one Veuve’s winemakers, reminding us that’s it’s the 200thanniversary of the House’s creation of Rosé using the method of adding red wine. In the case of the vintage rosé, the Pinot Noir from Clos Colin in Bouzy is what really adds to the structure and vinosity. Read more
At Les Crayeres...the champagne trolley
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Champagne bars and tasting areas
are on the rise in Champagne
Houses and vine growers have had to adapt to a difficult French market, by responding to consumer demand. Tourists join in gleefully, of course.
For several years now, small winemakers and some of the Houses themselves have augmented the number of bars, restaurants and the usual shops that offer tastings on site.
ÉPERNAY
The Syndicat Général des Vignerons has just opened its temporary bar, in the heart of the Avenue de Champagne, for the third year in a row. More than 4,200 consumers stopped by last year between April and September. The twenty winemakers who took part in the adventure found that demand indeed exists in Épernay. In addition to this one-off offer, eight houses on the famous avenue also offer permanent champagne bars, along with the Georges Cartier space on Jean-Chandon-Moët Street and the C Comme Champagne tasting and sales room on rue Gambetta.
The Place de la République is also fertile ground.
‘This is a necessary evolution,’ explains Cyril Janisson, president of Champagne Janisson-Baradon. ‘It brings additional income that compensates for the difficulties of the French market. We sell 20,000 bottles at the store, and that represents an important quarter of our sales.’ The business, which boasts a small terrace, has been open for four years in the Place de la République.
‘We are delighted!’ adds Cyril. ‘Initially, we just wanted to open a tasting shop and we had the opportunity to make a terrace for a dozen people. In season, it’s always full. When we opened in 2014, there were a lot fewer champagne bars than there are today.’ In fact, since the Janisson-Baradon opening, many more tasting initiatives have opened nearby without their being a drop in turnover.
CHOUILLY
Not too far from Épernay, a year ago, the largest cooperative in Champagne, Nicolas Feuillatte, opened a sales and tasting area in conjunction with visits open to tourists and locals alike.
HAUTVILLERS
A short drive from Épernay, in Hautvillers, the concept is not new. In addition to the restaurant Le Café d'Hautvillers and the bar-cum-shop, Au 36, twenty winemakers welcome guests throughout the year. One example is Champagne Pierre Fedyk, which opened in 2011, as a complement to the existing four guest rooms. Another couple of winemakers offer tastings, setting up on one of the small tables in the courtyard. All have a splendid view of the Marne Valley. The idea was conceived ten years ago. ‘It's complementary to our business,’ says Cecile Fedyk. When someone takes a cup on the terrace, there can often be a sale behind. It's like we're doing a little salon, but staying at the heart of our operation. It helps us to know. There are many tourists, but they are not the only ones who come to visit the Fedyk. "We have more and more locals who come to walk in Hautvillers and take the opportunity to take a cup. A habit begins to be made, with people from Reims and Épernay or from the surrounding villages.’
At the northern end of Hautvillers, champagne G. Tribaut has recently built Le Cellier, a sales and reception area open seven days a week that can accommodate around twenty customers. The place may have had only one year of existence, but the winemakers are not novices to hospitality. ‘It's been 40 years that we’ve been receiving customers in our family home, like many independent winemakers,’ says Valérie Tribaut, Sales Manager. With this beautiful point of view, we had the idea to invest in a new space to welcome loyal customers as well as new customers. With the new venture, members of the family business, which sells 160,000 bottles each year for direct sale, have had to adapt and discover a new way of working. ‘At first, it was a little complicated,’ admits Valerie Tribaut. ‘We had to be shopkeepers, and please the customers we welcome. But we remain primarily producers and we do not compete with cafes and bars.’
REIMS
My favourite, and most convenient bar in Reims: Le Wine Bar, on the corner of the Place du Forum and Rue Nanteuil. With an outstanding champagne list, and a weekly rolling schedule of growers and Houses by the glass, you’ll never be bored.
Le Wine Bar, Reims
Also worth an evening, Le Coq Rouge at 67 rue Chanzy, Trésors de Champagne at 2 rue Olivier Métra near Le Boulingrin market, the Glue Pot at 49 place Drouet d’Erlon and the wine bar in Hotel de la Paix, rue Buirette. Discover others for yourselves. Don’t be shy!
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Stars from the Revue de Vin de France Tasting
Champagne Lamiable produces powerfully structured Pinot Noir dominant champagne in Tours-sur-Marne
For the Producers
Missing from the main champagne area of the show, the stars were elevated to the first floor, among their peers in the world of wine. Veuve Fourny, Taittinger, Jacquesson, Drappier and biodynamic producer, Champagne Fleury, whose champagne so impressed us at the Artisans salnon during ‘Champagne Week’, were awarded a ‘coup de cœur’ for their Fleur de l’Europe Brut Nature.
Unfortunately, all of the above, hidden away on the first floor, were easy to miss if you didn’t read the handbook carefully. Sob!
Downstairs, it was possible to have a small exploration of a few Côte des Bars producers, tasted in between Houses such as Pol Roger (yes, the Winston is a cracker, and the new 2009 vintage) and Piper-Heidsieck (note: buy the 2008, and add a few Rare 2002 while you’re buying). Disappointing to hear from Laurent-Perrier that they will no longer let us know which great vintages make up their Grand Siécle.
The whole ranges of Avize producers, Étienne Calsac and Franck Bonville, drank beautifully. Franck Bonville has new and fascinating mono-cru cuvées of three Côte des Blancs villages. Apart from being pleasurable drinking, they illustrate very well the differences between Oger, Avize and Le Mesnil.
Impressive stand-alone cuvées, in no particular order, included:
Champagne Domaine de la Borderie 2014 single vineyard Douce Folie Rosé, Champagne Devaux 2005 from magnum, and their Ultra D for an aperitif Champagne L’Amiable Blanc de Noirs Nature – huge structure, excellent vinosity, powerful length Champagne Michael Furdyna’s Pinot Blanc NV (4g/L) with its delicate, white flower nose, balance and very pretty length Demilly de Baere’s 2014 Blanc de Noirs (quite lovely aromas including blackcurrants and blackberries, beautifully structured palate).
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