This is a well-written and informative article in WineAnorak, written by Treve Ring. Many top producers who used to grow 95% or more of their wines are now becoming neo-negociants. Some of those listed include Savart, Vilmart, Bérêche, Jerome Prevost and Emmanuel Brochet. For successful producers who want to make more wine, the choices are buying more vineyards or buying fruit. The economics favors the latter.
Cheers,
Warren
Kind of a role reversal with roederer buying up vineyards.
Interesting, but hardly informative. There is a blending of two categories to try and show a near term trend that is anything but new in the RM world.
The worst is listing a bunch of producers, and appending a quote from one about RM being finished. I have no idea from the article what Vilmart is up to (to take an example), and am left with many more questions than answers.
I honestly think Jamie should be ashamed for publishing this piece.
This would make obvious economic sense for some producers, but by the same token, of the 100 or so bottles of grower Champagne lined up to taste in my office over the next month, I don’t see many making the transition from RM to NM. I suspect that the vast majority of the ‘disappearing’ RM producers are simply small producers that none of us have ever heard of deciding to sell up in the face of a declining domestic (i.e. French) market. But crunching the numbers would have been interesting here.
The opposing trend that is evident if you speak to the big houses is that rising grape prices are making entry level NV Brut bottlings more and more economically marginal. So I suspect that big houses that depend on purchased grapes for the bulk of their needs are going to be trying to produce more and more of their prestige cuvées, which offer much better ROI. I also expect to see more and more repositioning of basic NV Brut blends as higher-end product, with higher prices and presumably things like more time sur lattes, more reserve wine, reserve wine in foudre etc etc as justifications for those higher prices.
David,
Sure, the quote is hyperbole, but overall, the article has some comprehensive information. For me, it is a great reference for the numbers and trends in the ratio of growers to cooperatives to classic champagne houses. I’m probably not the only one who found the synopsis of two-letter codes helpful. I knew most but not all of them. Sure, it would have been better to interview more of the producers listed, but doubt Frédéric Savart would have any reason to speak falsely. Successful growers who want to increase their production may have to buy grapes and give up their RM designation.
I respect your wine knowledge, and have enjoyed your posts, most recently in the tariff thread. From my standpoint, Jamie deserved more praise than criticism.
Warren
I found this article interesting, with information (as mentioned above) that I didn’t know. More depth and interviews would certainly have deepened the discussion, maybe we’ll see that in the future. Yes, the article had flaws - the click bait title, the exaggerated lead, the surface examination. But we’re talking Internet reporting, those weaknesses have to be ignored or you have no Internet reporting. Wine reporting, as in most areas, is deeply repetitive. Ignore what you aren’t interested in or have already seen 5 times, and move on.
Rich,
Jamie’s pieces usually do a much better job of avoiding clickbait and opening cans of worms without providing resolution. This piece is a deeply flawed exception to what is normally a very high standard.
My takeaway from the line at the end of the piece “Over the next few weeks we’ll be profiling some of the most interesting producers in the region, including forward-thinking larger houses, growers, and neo-négociants.” to mean that they will be going into more depth on what other producers are up to in future articles.
I hope so, but so often those sorts of things don’t pan out.
A useful article for those, like me, who aren’t experts in Champagne. Many of the issues are the same there as in other regions, but a useful quick overview. Though I will say that, even with a reduction over the past several years ~2000 to ~1700 RM producers, it’s unlikely I will ever sample even a tiny fraction of those. I haven’t noticed any mainstream growers normally found in the U.S. disappearing.
I had a few surprises in this article. E.g. some of these producers that I know and like are so tiny - just a few thousand case production! Also kind of amazed that there’s a huge market for €20 super market Champagne in France. I too hope the more detailed producer articles come out.