Leclapart on biodynamics in Champagne

I caught up with David Léclapart, the much sought after, cult Champagne producer, at the recent Terres et Vins de Champagne tasting. Here is a transcript of their conversation highlighting a few of David’s thoughts on producing great Champagne.

Me - So David, can you tell us a little about your philosophy of Champagne.

David - Do you mean my philosophy of Champagne or my philosophy of the vine?

Me - Both!

David - OK, because they are two different things. There is the philosophy of the vine, namely the plant that is cultivated, and then there is the philosophy of terroir, which has to do with where we are located. And those are two different things.

In terms of my philosophy of Champagne, here goes…

Since we’re in the most northerly of wine regions in France, the work in the vineyard is even more important than elsewhere because we have very little sunshine, little heat and so the work in the vineyard has to be very meticulous. Everything else follows from that work.

My philosophy of vinification is to work out how the year has impacted the grape and the wine. What interests me is to know how a vintage is going to express itself: a rainy vintage, a sunny vintage, a windy-wet vintage, a cold-wet vintage, a vintage that only had sun and heat, and so on. And it’s for that reason that I only make Champagnes without reserve wines, because I want to show how nature expresses itself through Champagne in a very northerly region. The objective is to respect that which is born in the vines and to enable that to be transmitted to the wine drinker without modifying, amputating or removing anything. Just accompanying it, following it and preparing it so that the drinker can understand, enjoy and get those elements from the wine they’re drinking.

My vinification follows this principle, which also means I use very little sulphur… I am very low-intervention in my winemaking: I don’t fine, I don’t filter, I don’t cold stabilize it, I don’t induce malo-lactic fermentation. I do everything as naturally as possible: natural yeasts, no enzymes, no artificial settling agents, and then natural malo-lactic bacteria. MLF happens systematically but naturally. I don’t induce MLF.

Me - So if you have barriques in which the MLF starts to occur, you just leave them?

David - Voila.

Me - So do you have cuvees that haven’t gone through MLF?

David - No, all the wines go through MLF, but they go through MLF at different times.

Me - When they want to?

David - Yep, when they want to. It’s not me that organizes the malo-lactic fermentation, it happens when it happens.

Then there’s the philosophy of the vine. This is about giving grapes, or transmitting to the grapes, the two forces that create life on earth: the earth force and the sky force. And if you do everything within your power to unite these two forces, then this will be shared in the berries and in the subsequent wine as well.

Me - So, basically, “between the earth and the sky you find wine”.

David - Yes. My work as a vigneron is to unite these two forces: the force of the sky and the force of the earth. And when this energy is in the grape, it passes into the wine and it is then into you, and you, the drinker, or ‘amateur’ (in the sense of one who loves), benefits from it.

Me - So I can say that it’s the energy of the wine, not the alcohol that makes me feel good! Is that why I’m liking your wine?

David - Exactly!

Me - Superb.

David - Evidently there’s a little bit of alcohol, but the key is that there is alcohol and alcohol. For example, I don’t chaptalize, except for in very, very difficult vintages like 2001, a little 2007 and a little 2011. But all my other vintages since 1998 have not been chaptalized. And well, the alcohol produced without chaptalisation is different to that produced with chaptalisation.

Me - I guess it’s alcohol from the fructose rather than alcohol from sucrose.

David - That’s right, and when you drink the alcohol from chaptalisation, it’s alcohol that passes through you very quickly, and makes you drunk very quickly. Whereas when you drink alcohol from the grape sugars it’s a different sort of alcohol. There are different qualities of alcohol, just as there are different qualities of acidity, and so on.

Me - Well that makes sense to me, because if you look at the different vibrational energies of the sugars - fructose, glucose, sucrose – they all have different vibrational spectra, which is measurable and is thought to play quite an important role in how we smell and perceive different molecules. For me it would follow that an alcohol derived from grape fructose could have a subtly different set of vibrations to that of one derived from added sugars.

David - Yes exactly. The different geometric shapes of the molecules can be analysed using modern techniques and you can see the differences. It’s because of these differences that we see a different effect in our bodies. For example, there are wines, that when you drink them, they make you feel happy and light, while there are those that make you feel heavy and sleepy. It’s all about the transfer of energy from one element to the next. Either the alcohol was derived from energy that is noble and energizing, or it is not and instead adds heaviness to our body and consciousness.

Me - Excellent, thank you, we look forward to seeing you at RAW!

Zero Dosage Redux

A new concept? A marketing driven idea to appeal to drinkers who prefer dryer wines? Or a the only sensible response to the climatic changes that have taken place over the last century?

Champagne is a cool climate region. The sparkling wine that we know and love arose in part as a response to the fact that the growers couldn’t get their grapes ripe enough to make successful dry wines. A secondary fermentation boosted the alcohol content and gave the wines the bubbles they needed to succeed.

Champagne has traditionally always been given a liquor de dosage after the disgorgement. This tailored the flavour profile for which ever market was being delivered to.

That was a long time ago.

Markets have changed, the world has changed, for a start it’s got warmer.

To quote the CIVC:

The harvest begins 14 day earlier

The potential  degree of alcohol of grapes is 0.8 % vol higher

The total acidity of grapes is 2 gH²SO4/l lower

So obviously the Champagnes being made are going to be slightly different, or at the very least the process is going to change in order to keep their flavour profle the same?

Average dates of flower set and harvest since 1951 in Champagne

Now breaking those figures down a little bit we can look at the change in both average % abv and g/l total acidity of Champagnes still wines for the three main grape varieties over the last 40 years. Figures from www.maisons-champagne.com.

Average Chardonnay vin clair % abc and g/l Total Acidity 

Average Pinot Noir vin clair % abc and g/l Total Acidity 

Average Pinot Meunier vin clair % abc and g/l Total Acidity

What we see here is a very clear trend towards riper grapes with a lower acidity.

Maturity Index for Champagne grapes (sugar/acidity)

Further more, this isn’t the only change that’s occurred in the region in the last 30 years. Better understanding of wine microbiology has meant that winemakers are better able to deal with malolactic fermentation.

Below a pH of about 3, a wine is unlikely to undergo malolactic fermentation without a sizeable degree of help, be that inoculation with a malolactic ferment starter culture or heating of the barrel.

One should note that far and away the worst situation is for malo to occur in bottle, a sure fire way for a winemaker to lose their job. So it’s safer to put all the wines through malo, thus further reducing acidities.

Benoit Tarlant of Champagne Tarlant estimates that about 90% of wines in the region are now put through malo, this as opposed to the about 40% that was the case 40 years ago. Clearly we have a significant change in style.

This is where zero dosage comes in. Riper vin clair wines, better phenolic ripeness, more intensity of fruit, there ceases to be any need for dosage. The wines are quite capable of being balanced on their own.

Yes growers will need to age the wines sur lees for a bit longer (usually about a year), yes more reserve wines will be needed. Yes it requires a bit more effort, but Champagne is a premium product for a reason.

The Moet

Introducing the Moet:

Unit of production defined as the rough production of the largest producer.

Thus 1 Moet = 26,000,000 bottles.

Examples:

Duval Leroy, 5 million btl production = .192Moet

Bollinger, 2.5 million btl production = .096Moet

Gyro magic

The dance of the Gyro Palettes

Guy Charbault

There’s a lot of ruins in Mesopotamia….

There’s a lot of Champagne in Champagne. So without further ado I give you.

Guy Charbault. 3^rd generation growers based in Mareuil-Sur-Ay in the Marne valley. They are a smallish house producing a bit over 200,000 bottles a year (0.76%Moet). Their vines are mostly in the Marne valley in the villages of Mareuil-sur-Ay and Bizeuil, though they source some Pinot Meunier from the Aude.

Their viticulture is mostly organic, though they do employ ‘l’insecticide de confusion sexuelle’ colloquially known as the ‘l’entraitement de Shoreditch’ and reserve other spray in case of problems.

Guy Charbault are typical of a large section of the Champagne market, exporting across Europe, but also selling a lot of wine to the, mainly, Belgian hoardes that descend annually looking to fill their boots with bubbles.

If I was being very cruel, I’m not, but mainly because I’ve a glass of nice rose Champagne in my hand and I’ve just had a lovely breakfast, I’d call it commodity Champagne. I don’t think anyone is ever going to seek out Guy Charbault wines, or write breathless blog posts about them (this one excluded), but that doesn’t stop them from being worthy of serious consideration.

They’re substantially cheaper than the big houses, cellar door prices ranging from €14 to €18. Now if that doesn’t say everyday drinking Champagne to you, then you obviously have a better control of you bank account than I do.

A lithe and racy Blanc de Blanc, a nice fruity (dare I say it Moet style) Selection Brut, a Vintage offering that mimics the style of the NV but with more oomph, a rose de saignee (a surprisingly bold winemaking choice) that would be more than would more than happily grace my glass as I lounge on a riverbank come summer. Only a mildly disappointing 1ere cru Reserve Selection marred the range, it was a bit heavy on the autolytic yeasty toastiness without the power of wine beneath to balance it.

Full tasting notes and pretty pictures of the bottles here.

So there you go, family owned, good bubbles, and the satisfaction of knowing that every time you drink a bottle Bernard Arnault, a man much richer than either you or me (unless you happen to be Bernard Arnault, in which case hi) sheds a solitary lonely tear (probably not true, but I like to pretend).

Xavier Charbault

Guy Charbault, 12, rue du Pont, B-P 24, 51160, Mareuil-sy-Ay.

+33 3 26 52 60 59