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The Champagne Revolution: Grower Champagne 101.
It is not very often that revolutions occur in industries with the establishment and heritage as Champagne, but that is exactly what is happening with the raise in popularity and prominence of Grower Champagne.
Grower Champagne is defined as Champagne which is produced solely using the vineyards and grapes of that particular Champagne House. Typically, you can recognise Grower Champagne form the label which should be marked with the initials RM.
Surely all Champagne is Grower Champagne, or at the very least the main `household` brands are? – Wrong. The most popular and Grande Champagne Houses account for over 75% of global Champagne sold but only own and harvest approximately 10% of the vineyards in the Champagne region. Therefore, they are unable to grow enough grapes for their own production and must buy it in from smaller vineyards. As such, most Grande Champagne Houses, such as: Moet, Dom Perignon, Krug and Veuve Cliquot etc are officially classified as NM or Negociants-Manipulants, meaning `dealers` and `handlers`.
As the Grower producers only make a limited amount of Champagne, they are able to have enough grapes to not only produce their own Champagne but to also sell onto the NM’s (larger producers). However, not all smaller vineyards produce Grower Champagne, in fact most – over 2/3 – simply harvest their grapes and sell them onto the larger NM’s. As a general guide, there are approximately 2,000 Grower Champagne houses, with only a tiny fraction of these exporting outside of France.
So now we know what Grower Champagne is – What is the difference? In short it can be described in the following points:
1) Smaller scales of production – more care and attention to detail. Moet & Chandon- the largest Champagne producer – makes over 30million bottles per year, whereas smaller Grower Champagne producers can make as little as 20,000 bottles per year.
2) For the smaller producers, Champagne is not a business but a whole way of life. They take great pride, passion and responsibility for what they are creating, often the entire family is involved with knowledge passed through the generations. As such, the quality and taste is very often superior to the established brands – most French stay away from the main brands and only drink Grower Champagne.
3) Much better value for money – unlike the top brands, you are not paying for the `name` on the bottle but what is `inside` the bottle.
So the next time you have a chance or see the RM on the label of the champagne – join the revolution…
Credit to this blog post goes to: Jiles.
Jiles Halling has lived and worked in Champagne for over 10 years and loves to share his unique knowledge of champagne with anyone who enjoys this wonderful drink. You can find out more at any of the following:
