Champagne: A vintage year

The proliferation of vintage releases is one of the biggest recent trends in Champagne. Is it purely a commercial move, or are there other reasons at play?

Among the many issues raised in this year’s Champagne Report, one has become a heated topic. Such is the increasing regularity of vintage releases, particularly among the famous prestige cuvée brands, it seems as though every year is now good enough for launching a top-end expression. This, in turn, has encouraged some to ask whether exceptional harvests have become more common, or whether the prestige cuvée concept has changed from encapsulating the very best vintages in a decade to providing a regular, if selective, refection of annual harvest conditions. Writing in the supplement, which we published in March, Rupert Millar used Dom Pérignon to highlight the change: in the 1920s there were four vintages of DP, just one in the 1930s, three in the ‘40s, and six between 2000 and 2006, with only the 2001 failing to make the required grade. Should this house produce, as is suspected, a 2007, 2008, and 2009, Millar noted that Dom Pérignon could create more vintages (nine) in the noughties than it did in the first three decades of its existence. The brand’s renowned cellar master, Richard Geoffroy, admitted during the 2006 release in the UK last October that the creation of five consecutive vintages (2002- 2006) was “unprecedented” for Dom Pérignon, before stating “but we’re meant to witness the vintages”. Continuing, he commented: “In an ideal world, I’d make a vintage wine every year. With the different vintages you have to turn the challenges into opportunities. It’s about taking the risk and reinventing ourselves with each vintage” But he also conceded that this was contentious. “There’s a debate in Champagne at the moment about reserving vintage releases for the best years,” he said, “but there shouldn’t be any artificial limitations put on it. The first half of the last decade was fantastic – we should witness how remarkable those vintages were. When the quality is that spectacular you have to put the wines forward for release.”

VOLUME VARIATION

In fact, what appears to be happening among big-name luxury cuvées is that there is a release almost every year, but the volumes vary. As Geoffroy explains: “I can release more regularly but smaller volumes.” Although the house won’t reveal production figures, the 2005 Dom Pérignon was made in “significantly” smaller quantities and hence, around six months following its launch, the 2006 was unveiled, meaning that Dom Pérignon not only released two back-to-back vintages, but did so within the same year. What’s wrong with this? Well, nothing if the Champagnes sell on, and get consumed, but some in the appellation believe it may be taking the sheen off the prestige cuvée category, while UK merchants have told db that’s there a risk of vintage fatigue among their customers. The word ‘risk’ is important, as it seems that the demand for top-end vintagedated Champagnes is yet to be exhausted – consequently, some traders have been seeking greater allocations. Such products are satisfying a demand from collectors, many of whom have bought and laid down fine still wines for many years, but are new to Champagne. Moreover, brands like Dom Pérignon, Cristal, Krug vintage, Salon, Taittinger Comtes de Champagne and Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill – to name the most sought-after top-end labels – carry the multiple appeal of injecting diversity into a collector’s portfolio while offering value relative to great Bordeaux or Burgundy. Such Champagnes also have high scores, are shipped ready to drink and have the capacity to age, while, as a further important bonus, offering returns if sold on. Furthermore, these cuvées provide the market with something new to talk about, annually, while distancing Champagne’s top houses from the price-fighting that occurs on Brut NVs in mainstream retail.

COMMERCIAL MOVE

So why state all this? Because it is db’s belief that the increasing regularity of vintage releases, particularly among the prestige cuvées, is primarily commercially motivated – supply is increasing in response to market demand. And once a single prominent brand starts releasing more vintages, the others tend to follow, or risk losing customer attention and, with, that market share. But what reasons do the Champagne houses give for more vintage releases? The increasing number of upmarket, singleharvest expressions is attributed almost entirely to climatic conditions: the cellar masters and brand owners are implying that they are compelled to release another vintage because of global warming. “Houses used to release a vintage Champagne perhaps three times a decade and now the average is one every two years; it’s easier to make vintage Champagne today than it used to be as we have fewer problems with spring frosts and are achieving better ripeness in the grapes,” commented Hervé Deschamps, chef de cave of Perrier-Jouët, during the release of the 2007 vintage of the house’s prestige cuvée, Belle Epoque. Providing a similar explanation, but also highlighting the range of possible causes, is Pol Roger’s Laurent d’Harcourt, managing director of a house that sells an unusually high proportion of vintage dated Champagnes – they account for 25% of its shipments.

GLOBAL WARMING ’GOOD’

“One of the reasons for the increase in vintages is the more gentle weather conditions… At the moment, global warming is good for Champagne,” he tells db. “But 2003 [a year of extremes of temperature] was tough for Champagne, and we had very low yields, and 2011 was not great either [like 2003, it was a vintage of extremes, with one the earliest harvest start dates on record in Champagne].” In other words, hot years like 2003 and 2011 – vintages linked with a warming trend – don’t necessarily produce great wines. Indeed, a combination of irregular weather patterns associated with climate change diminish harvest quality and the combination of heat and moisture is particularly challenging as it encourages the rapid spread of bunch rot. Continuing, d’Harcourt proposes the real reason for a rise in vintage releases: “I think it is because more people are interested in higher quality expressions.” Charles Philipponnat also observes a rise in the number of vintage releases, and offers a further explanation. “We have been producing more vintages than we did in the past because we prefer to make smaller quantities of vintage Champagne but make them more often,” he says. “And that’s because – and I believe this deeply – the quality of the vintage Champagne is not from the vintage itself, but from the quality of the grape selection.”

GRAPE SELECTION

In other words, as Philipponnat continues: “Vintage Champagne is not better because it is a better year but because the grapes were very well selected, that’s why it is superior… By selecting grapes well you can make a vintage wine in a normal year, and you can also make one in an exceptional year.” Furthermore, for Philipponnat, this selection is about choosing the berries for creating a Champagne of ‘vintage character’, which is a Champagne that generally has greater fruit quality and concentration enabling it to benefit from longer ageing on the lees – vintage Champagne must spend a minimum of three years in the cellar, compared with 18 months for NV, but in the case of prestige cuvée vintage expressions, 8-10 years is common. Philipponnat’s concern does not centre on the number of releases, however, but the amount some producers are setting aside as a vintage. “I think some houses are still making too much vintage wine,” he says. “So you see that some houses are only now releasing their 2002; it is unbelievable that they should want to keep it for 13 years, so the explanation is that they have made too much – their vintages are rotating too slowly. Yes, it is wonderful to be selling 2002 if you are Salon or Krug, but if you have a lesser reputation and you are releasing 2002 now, then something is wrong.” Speaking of his flagship cuvée, the sought-after, single-vineyard, vintage Clos des Goisses, he adds: “We always keep Goisses for 10 years before release, so we are now selling the 2006.” It is also a prestige label that is made as often as possible, and has, in fact, been produced every vintage since 1988 – Philipponnat didn’t release a 1987. Philipponnat explains: “We want the Champagne from Clos des Goisses to be like wine, and no-one questions why Château Margaux makes a vintage every year, so why would it be different for Champagne? “Yes, of course there is vintage difference from one year to the next, but there is no reason why we can’t make a vintage every year. The idea of not making a vintage Champagne every year is very specific to Champagne, but it is only an idea.”

‘The quality of the vintage Champagne is not from the vintage itself, but from the quality of the grape selection’

‘You see that some houses are only now releasing their 2002; it is unbelievable that they should want to keep it for 13 years, so the explanation is that they have made too much’

SITE SPECIFICS

Goisses has been producing vintage Champagnes since 1935, but more recently, others have adopted the same concept of releasing vintages every year from a specific plot: Pommery with the Clos Pompadour, first released in 2011 using grapes from the 2002 vintage, and Lanson with Clos Lanson, released in April from the 2006 harvest. In both cases, the houses have stated their intention to make and release a vintage every year from these specific vineyards. Largely agreeing with Philipponnat, Pommery cellar master Thierry Gasco says: “With all the grape suppliers that Pommery has, it is possible to make a vintage every year, but it is the quantity, not quality, that is the difference: sometimes we can make 40,000 bottles of vintage Champagne, other times, two to three times that amount.”

Interestingly, he adds that the possibility to make more vintage Champagne more regularly stems not from a kinder climate for sparkling wine production, but better vineyard and cellar management. “With the improvement in the techniques, I could make a vintage every year, yes, of course. It is more because of the viticulture, than the climate.” In fact, he observes that better approaches have especially benefitted the quality of wine from the Aube [Champagne’s most southerly sub-region] by yielding grapes that are less ripe than in the past, along with the decision to press the bunches more gently.

“Thirty years ago the quality of the wine from Aube was not as good as it is today. Now we have less maturity, less body, whereas before we had wine from the Aube that had a lot of body and was too heavy.” Explaining this change, he says that grapes in the Aube are now harvested “at the right time” to ensure there is less sur maturité in the berries – something that gives an undesireable marmalade taste, according to Gasco. Vast improvements over the past 15 years in weather monitoring across Champagne have helped harvesters pick at the “good level of maturity” he adds, pointing out that there are now more than 500 points of control in Champagne for measuring grape maturity, and as many as 85 of these are in Aube, which represents about 20% of Champagne’s production.

‘With the improvement in the techniques, I could make a vintage every year, yes, of course. It is more because of the viticulture, not the climate’

Partner Content

Zaccagnini targets US market with modern styles

Belvedere, Holland Park: It’s a ‘white truffle’ Christmas!

Wines of Hungary makes central Europe the centre of attention

Why you should add Barcelona Wine Week to your calendar

PRESSING CONCERNS

The other change concerns pressing. “The big progress in Champagne comes from the certification of press houses, which was instated in 1987, but it was not until 1992 that we changed the press fraction composition between the cuvée and the taille while reducing the volume of extraction.” Summarising his views, he states: “For a good wine you need first of all to have good picking, and second you need good pressing; after that, it’s easy.” Pernod Ricard’s Champagne director Michel Letter also says we should look to man, rather than climate, for the rise in the number of vintage releases. “More than the weather, is it the improvements in the vineyards that makes it possible to make more vintage Champagne than in the past; it is to do with the way we manage the vineyard,” he states, noting that increased vine age in the appellation is also helping this development. Meanwhile, Bruno Paillard, who heads up the Champagne house by the same name, cites one further reason for an increase in the number of vintage releases, whatever the cuvée. And that’s the reduced cost of borrowing money. He explains: “Low interest rates are helping [producers make more vintage Champagne] as they encourage people to hold stock – in Champagne, you are ageing a raw material that is extremely expensive, we have the most expensive grapes in the world, and if you had both expensive grapes and high interest rates, then it would be a different story.” In the 90s, for example, interest rates were over 10%, but today, they are between 1 and 2%, he records.

SPECIAL RESERVATIONS

But if the cost of borrowing money is lower, and the quality of grapes is better, along with the processing of the berries, and if the weather conditions are kinder, why doesn’t every house make a vintage every year? One reason is the increasing role of reserve wine in Champagne Brut NVs. Veuve Clicquot cellar master Dominique Demarville explains: “Yes I could make a vintage every year but I don’t because I want to protect the Yellow Label Brut NV. If I made a vintage every year, including those years that aren’t so exceptional, and I use the best wine, then I won’t have it for Yellow Label, and the most important thing for me is to have the reserve wines for Yellow Label. “For example, we won’t declare the 2009 at Veuve Clicquot, even though it is a good year, because I want to keep the maximum reserve for Yellow Label.”

Also, he stated, the “quality level of the Pinot Noir is very important for Veuve Clicquot and some years the Chardonnay is better than the Pinot Noir.” For example, Clicquot did not declare a 2007, which Demarville described as “a beautiful year for Chardonnay,” Bruno Paillard presents a similar view. “I have always been a strong supporter of reserve wines; it is part of the great tradition of Champagne – and now I use between 30 and 50%. “I even used 52% for the 2003 [when that year formed the base of the Bruno Paillard Première Cuvée Brut NV] – although before it was 20-30%. Reserve wines are my life insurance against disastrous harvests like ‘72 or ‘84.

For example, I never released an ‘88 – and I regret that – but the reason was because it came not long after the disastrous ‘84 and I had to reconstitute my top quality wines.” Bollinger’s Gilles Descôtes admits that technically he could make a vintage every year but – like Clicquot and the other Grandes Marques – his “focus is on quality of Special Cuvée [Bollinger’s Brut NV]”. He stresses: “If I think that making a vintage could risk the quality of Special Cuvée, then I’m not going to make one.” Descôtes doesn’t believe he can make a wine of Bollinger Grande Année or R.D. standard every year, but does say that he can always release a vintage as a special limited edition label, such as the “2003 by Bollinger”, or more recently, the 2009 Bollinger Spectre Limited Edition, a 50,000 bottle vintage release for last year’s Bond film. But even with these there’s a danger it will confuse the consumer. “We don’t want to do multiple limited editions because it’s blurring the marketing,” admits Bollinger’s international sales director, Guy de Rivoire.

It’s a point also made by Demarville, when discussing the role of a vintage in Champagne. “The philosophy of Veuve Clicquot is not to declare a vintage very often, and this is for two reasons – the first is that we must protect the quality of Yellow Label; and the second reason is that vintage must be something very special and it must be in the Veuve Clicquot philosophy, and always have a high level of Pinot Noir – never less than 60%.” And, acknowledging that vintage Champagne accounts for 3-4% of Clicquot sales, Demarville admits: “We could exist without vintage today.” Nevertheless, he adds: “We’ve been making vintage for 200 years. It’s important to have in the portfolio today and it’s important to communicate about this special wine. It’s a wine that sommeliers, chefs and Champagne lovers want.” Having said that, he also admits a need to do more to promote the category: “Most people who drink Champagne don’t think Champagne produces a vintage – it’s something we must do more to explain – vintage is a very special category.”

TWO-FOLD PROBLEM

So, on the one hand there is a segment of the UK trade – primarily the fine wine merchants – who fear that Champagne could be releasing too much vintage fizz, too regularly. On the other, there are cellar masters who mourn the fact that so few consumers know there is such a thing as vintage Champagne, or if they do, fail to understand the difference between a fizz from a single year and a Brut NV. But, whether the vintage and prestige cuvée category is sufficiently understood, or is in danger of reaching saturation, the decision by houses to make a vintage has as much to do with marketing as it does other factors. And the trend today appears to be to make more vintages, but in lower quantities – which is a matter of selection. Harvest conditions have undoubtedly helped this endeavour, but the real influence on berry quality stems from superior approaches in the vineyard and a better understanding of the optimum time to pick. The greater regularity of vintage releases can’t, and shouldn’t be attributed entirely on the climate.