Everything you need to know about the current Champagne yield
The 2025 Champagne vintage might be diminutive in terms of permitted yield but, according to producers, the quality is powerful, reports Gabriel Stone. But what do winemakers really think about the Comité Champagne’s decision to set the lowest yield yet in the modern age?
Grapes still hung on the vine as superlatives started to trickle in from Champagne. “The 2025 harvest is truly unprecedented, marked by the dazzling rhythm of ripening,” was the verdict from Perrier-Jouët cellar master Séverine Frerson, by no means an outlier in her excitement. Few houses drape more than the flimsiest veil of coyness over whether we should look forward to a fanfare of 2025 vintage releases in a few years’ time.
At a moment when everyone wants to rave about quality, it can be difficult to turn the subject to quantity. Yet, despite universal recognition of 2025’s potential for greatness, this is also the year when the Comité Champagne (CIVC) set a “rendement commercialisable” or “marketable yield” which – with the exception of 2020’s controversial, Covid-induced anomaly – is the lowest in the modern era. What’s more, this 9,000kg/ha yield limit came in the wake of significant cuts over the two preceding years. Should we view this yield reduction as a temporary blip or Champagne’s new normal?
To understand this scenario, it is vital to remember that the region’s yields are primarily decided not with an eye to the vineyard, but the global marketplace. With Champagne shipments falling to 271.3 million bottles in 2024, their third successive year of significant decline, the need to rebalance stock overrides all other considerations.
Fluctuating yields
Victoria Henson, director of the Champagne Bureau UK, assesses 2025’s marketable yield as nothing more than a move “to cautiously respond to today’s realities and ensure market balance”. As such, there is in theory nothing to stop it bouncing back up to previous levels. “We cannot forecast yield in coming years,” she insists. “If we take the last decade, for example, we have seen yields fluctuate between 8,000kg/ha and 12,000kg/ha.”
Take an even longer perspective and it’s clear that even this broad bracket would be almost unrecognisible to Champagne’s post-war generation. From an average of only 3,670kg/ha (equivalent to 24hl/ha) in the 1940s, the region’s yield had almost trebled to an average of 9,910kg/ha (66hl/ha) by the 1980s. This rise was accompanied by an energetic planting programme which saw Champagne’s vineyard hectarage double between 1958 and 1978 alone. The production surge went hand-in-hand with an almighty sales boom. Global Champagne shipments enjoyed a steady upward trajectory from only 31.1m bottles in 1950 to a peak of 338.7m bottles in 2007.
Is that level achievable once more? Not in the forseeable future appears to be the consensus. “The Champagne market has entered a phase of correction and stabilisation,” suggests Charles- Armand de Belenet, managing director at Champagne Bollinger. “We expect volumes to settle around 270m to 280m bottles in the coming years, and it seems unlikely that we will quickly return to 300m.” As a result, he predicts, “yields will probably remain in the 9,000-9,500kg/ha range over the next two or three years, unless there is a spectacular rebound.”
Delicate compromise
The annual yield decision represents a delicate compromise negotiated between houses and growers. Perhaps it’s the result of tight message discipline, but the overriding reaction to this year’s limit has been supportive.
Nevertheless, there lingers a suggestion that logical and fair are not quite the same thing as desirable. Guillaume Roffiaen, director of Vines & Wines for Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne (TEVC) and cellar master of Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, describes this year’s permitted yield as “a reasonable decision”. That said, he remarks: “The TEVC Group is naturally sized to cope with a higher yield than this,” and suggests: “The right balance for Champagne probably remains a target of 300m bottles per year.”
One factor that has certainly helped mollify any grumbles about the imposition of a low yield on such an affable growing season is the CIVC’s 2023 decision to increase the “réserve individuelle” from 8,000kg/ha to 10,000kg/ha. This ability to stockpile effectively an entire harvest’s-worth of wine allows producers to level out fluctuations not just in quantity, but also in quality.
“The strength of Champagne lies in its ability to adapt,” remarks Hadrien Mouflard, managing director at Champagne Ayala. He views the expanded reserve as representing an important element of that flexibility. “For Champagne Ayala, it’s positive because it increases the volume of reserve wines in stock, which aligns with our qualitative objectives of using more than 40% of reserve wines in our NV blends,” he explains. “Not all our partners are always able to guarantee their reserves, so this increase is a real asset.”
This larger reserve is likewise “indispensible” for de Belenet. “It provides the flexibility to smooth yield variations, select the best wines for our blends, absorb climatic risks and consistently meet demand,” he outlines. “For Bollinger, it is a structuring tool that has proved its worth in recent years.”
Closely tied to the issues of both quality and quantity is the current shift by many producers in a more sustainable viticultural direction. At Bollinger, the initial adoption of cover crops and herbicide suppression led to a yield decrease of “around 15%”. Today, reports de Belenet: “By following organic viticulture principles, we generally observe an average 25% drop in yields, with a significant mildew impact roughly every four years.”
Over at the region’s largest producer, Moët & Chandon, there’s a similar picture. Since 2019, the house has used no herbicides across its 1,150ha of vines, while phytochemical use has reduced by half since 2008. Even in a relatively disease-free year such as 2025, Frédéric Gallois, director of vineyards & grape supply, reports that the impact on production is “probably 1,500kg/ha less than the Champagne average”. However, looking back to the more challenging 2024 growing season, he notes: “Last year our yield was probably 3,000kg/ha lower”.
Does this trend towards lower marketable yields strike a better balance with the natural yield of today’s more environmentally focused Champagne? “Yes if it’s a good year; if it’s a bad year, no,” replies Gallois. Factor in the increased reserve, however, and the sums start to add up. “The first measure of success is to have a yield that meets the demands of the appellation and is good-quality,” Gallois observes. “Today we have found our balance and, with our current capabilities, we are able to produce what we need.”
Experimental projects
Yield is also a key evaluation factor for other, more experimental projects currently afoot at Moët. These include plantings of new PIWI variety Voltis, the mildew resistance of which has obvious appeal in Champagne, as well as 53ha replanted with the region’s recently approved “vignes semi-large” two-metre spacing. Moët estate manager Reynald Loiseau points to the greater scope for soil-enriching cover crops between these wider rows. Meanwhile, the higher-trained vines allow each plant room to compensate for lower-density spacing by producing a larger crop.
The new system also presents potential advantages when it comes to dealing with Champagne’s climatic challenges. By placing the first training wire at 80cm above the ground, roughly double the region’s standard positioning, Moët has found that its vines are less susceptible to frost damage.
Despite these and other benefits observed from the new vineyard layout, any extension of the initiative will require winning over the house’s oenologists. “We have to prove that the yield we get from these trials will meet their requirements,” explains Loiseau, “and the quality of our product has to remain the same.”
That perpetual tension between quality and quantity may start in the vineyard, but it permeates right through the Champagne business. The parameters may be climatic or economic, a steady shift to organic viticulture or consumer confidence this Christmas party season. Recent declines in the marketable yield appear to be very much in tune with the wider movement to find a more sustainable production level for Champagne in its vineyards, as well as in the marketplace. But a new normal? That’s not a phrase in the Champagne mindset.
Trade talk
Read on for producer snapshots of the 2025 harvest and their plans for the coming year.
Drappier’s 2025 harvest to open up “new dimensions in Champagne”
At Champagne Drappier, the harvest began on 25 August, which according to eighth-generation winemaker Hugo Drappier is “the earliest (equal to 2003) in the history of our estate”. He describes the harvest as being of “exceptional quality”, adding: “It is rare for a vintage to offer so much freshness and acidity, along with such high ripeness, with absolutely perfect sanitary conditions.”
This year, Drappier confirms, the house will be able to produce “all 24 of our cuvées, including those made from the rare grape varieties: Blanc Vrai (Pinot Blanc), Fromenteau (Pinot Gris), Arbanne and Petit Meslier – a large diversity made possible thanks to this year’s excellent weather conditions”. He further reveals that in 2025 Drappier harvested Voltis, a resistant variety recently introduced in Champagne, for the first time in the Côte des Bar, where the family-run estate and vineyard are located. As well as satisfying demand for the house’s existing cuvées, “the quality of this year’s juice is an invitation to explore new paths in vinification, to craft new blends, and to open up new dimensions in Champagne. That same spirit of curiosity is what led my father, Michel Drappier, to create our Brut Nature cuvées nearly 40 years ago”, he adds.
“The 2025 harvest is also a special one for our family and our team. It is the first one without my grandfather, André Drappier, who passed away in his 99th year in March 2025. I know that such quality would have made him very happy.” Drappier tells db that, this year, the harvest “even allowed us to rebuild some of our reserves, which had been seriously depleted last year due to frost and mildew”.
Drappier’s vines grow on Jurassic Kimmeridgian limestone (not chalk), “a dense rock that often gives lower yields than in the northern part of the appellation, but with smaller, more concentrated grapes that develop remarkable aromas”, says Drappier. ”This is what defines our house style.”
Maison Chanoine determined to “remain competitive” on price
With the harvest now coming to an end, Maison Chanoine president Enguerrand Baijot is “dazzled by the quality”, and in particular the “amazing concentration” of the grapes. “A record average alcohol potential, combined with nice freshness and low pH, offers a perfect balance between sugar level and acidity,” he tells db. Meanwhile, “aromatic quality is highly promising, even though we need to wait for the first vins clairs tasting later this year to declare for sure whether it will be a vintage”.
Conversely, the average yields “are tiny, even in the largest Chardonnay area”. However, Baijot points out that Champagne currently holds 4.8 years of stocks in its cellars versus a target of 3.8 years. While “it won’t really contribute to destocking, this year’s yield should start to better align production with the reality of the market, especially in the current uncertain economic and geopolitical context”.
According to Baijot: “Champagne has never liked a crisis, and for sure the 15% US tariffs won’t help. But we will fight at Maison Chanoine to remain competitive for our two brands – Chanoine Frères & Champagne Tsarine – in order to always offer the vast majority of consumers the possibility to afford a nice bottle of Champagne within their price range. Quality and competitive pricing can co-exist.” Ultimately, he explains: “This year, Mother Nature gave us exactly what we all needed: a qualitative harvest with a moderate yield.”
Next year, Champagne Tsarine celebrates its 30th anniversary, for which it plans to engage a new generation of consumers through a host of “unique experiences” yet to be announced, Baijot reveals.
Champagne Gardet hails “exceptional 2025 harvest”.
Stéphanie Sucheyre, Champagne Gardet oenologist and quality manager, says: “The 2025 harvest was early and of high quality. Although volumes were slightly lower, the exceptional quality points to an excellent vintage, one of elegant and expressive wines. The first juice tastings have revealed a seductive and intense aromatic profile, with the juices already displaying a promising structure auguring balanced and precise wines, fully aligned with the Gardet style.
“After a serene growing season marked by plenty of sunshine and mild temperatures, the vines ripened quickly, heralding a promising grape quality. Summer brought a touch of uncertainty to this tranquility: occasional storms and heatwaves posed a risk to maturation, fortunately contained thanks to the work and close monitoring of the teams.
“The 2025 Champagne harvest, with an appellation yield set at 9,000kg per hectare, will be remembered as atypical and particularly early, with the region’s official opening on 19 August. At Champagne Gardet, it began on 25 August and lasted for 17 days. Remarkably, sugar levels increased at twice the usual rate during the final week before harvest: an average of +2.4 degrees per week, compared with the usual +1.2 degrees. At Champagne Gardet, the average sugar level recorded was 10.54. Today, 62% of the vineyard is certified HVE, VDC, and/or organic, with a clear ambition to convert all parcels.”
Champagne Besserat de Bellafon reports “beautiful tension”
According to Besserat de Bellefon’s cellar master Cédric Thiébault, 2025 appears to be a “perfect year.” He tells db that, while yields are “rather low, especially for Chardonnay, it is enough to cover our requirements”, and the grapes are “very healthy, with an average potential alcohol of 11.2°.”
Pinot Noir and Meunier show lower potential alcohol, but with “beautiful tension and, surprisingly, quite a high level of malic acid, given the heatwave conditions”, he continues. Despite Besserat de Bellefon bringing in slightly less grand cru Chardonnay than last year, 2025 “may be an interesting year for a vintage as well as for our réserve perpétuelle”, says Thiébault.
“Maintaining the quality of the perpetual reserve is a key component in the style and consistency of our Champagnes, especially Bleu Brut. Since 2004, our perpetual reserve has been a permanent investment in the quality of our non-vintage wines. Time will tell whether the quality in 2025 will also allow us to craft our prestige wine, Cuvée des Moines.”
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