Champagne: the fizz of organic bubbles
FrenchWineNews | October 20th, 2011
Slowly but surely, more and more Champagne winegrowers are going “organic”, a decision which is deeply modifying the viticultural landscape of the Champagne region.
In the past six years, 72 out of the 15,000 winegrowers that make up the Champagne appellation have officially converted to organic viticulture. They cultivate 300 hectares (741 acres) of vines, that is to say, less than 1% of the total planted surface area in Champagne. But they are stirring up a veritable ecological awakening for winegrowers. Their decision has also proved to be positive for employment, as organic farming requires extra labor.
However, the road to organic certification is not an easy one: “The cold and wet climate of the Champagne region makes the vines particularly sensitive to parasites and pest attacks, which doesn’t make organic conversion any easier,” explains Thibaut Le Mailloux, the spokesman for the Inter-Professional Committee for the Wines of Champagne (CIVC). “A good number of winegrowers who use organic or biodynamic farming methods don’t actually make it official because they want to leave themselves the possibility of spraying the vines if need be.”
The horse makes a comeback!
Vincent Laval, winegrower in Cumières (Marne), inherited an ecological flair from his father, who, in the 1970s, was one of Champagne’s pioneers in organic agriculture. Today, the son uses the ancestral method of working the land: with a mare and a plow. “A horse doesn’t compress the soil, and when you plow, you can smell the living earth; there’s decomposition, and micro-organisms are at work there. In the organic grape, we rediscover the soil’s expression, the concentration of aromas and all the complexity necessary to make a fine wine,” asserts Mr. Laval. He then adds, “Of course, in organic farming there is more risk involved and more work to be done, and the vines produce less. But, in the past thirty years, our harvest volumes have never been under the maximum authorized yield.”
According to Thibault Le Mailloux, 76% of vineyards in Champagne are grass-covered and the use of insecticide has decreased by 90% over the past 10 years, as winegrowers are favoring more natural methods.
However, these improvements don’t come cheap, and additional costs are passed on to the consumer. That is why organically certified wines are, on average, 20% more expensive than wines produced using conventional farming methods. It is up to the consumer to have the same ecological awareness.
PHOTO : MICHEL GUILLARD
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