Green Bubbles

Find out how these top champagne houses are championing sustainability

- AMY VAN

Today’s champagne houses are moving away from traditional methods of grape cultivation and even discontinuing elaborate packaging and gift boxes that used to flood the market. These three maisons are at the forefront of sustainable practices – from increasing biodiversity to eliminating packaging, and reducing bottle weight, they are finding ways to reduce carbon footprint in their own ways.

Minimalism over extravagance

Telmont located in Damery, about 10 minutes by car from Epernay, has been steadily and actively working on their sustainable initiatives. After launching their “In the Name of Mother Nature” project, the company embarked on a complete overhaul of their packaging to get rid of everything that was unnecessary.

Ludovic du Plessis, president of Maison Telmont, believes that the CIVC (Interprofessional Committee for Champagne Wine) is doing a great job in pushing the sustainability efforts of the Champagne region. “They are doing a lot to promote biodiversity. But at Telmont, we go one step further,” he says.

The champagne house firstly aims to increase biodiversity, and then fully convert to organic farming by 2031 – for their own estate’s vineyards and those of their winegrowing partners. This means no longer using herbicides, pesticides, fungicides or chemical fertilisers. It’s an ambitious plan. And they are now almost 50 percent certified or in the process of conversion.