Popping Tradition

A new style of champagne is bu aficionados distinct and differen tastes.

Champagne, the iconic drink of silver screen stars, industrialist heiresses and royal wastrels, has long represented all that is glamorous and indulgent in life. The big names, such as Dom Perignon, Krug or Bollinger, have cultivated an air of prestige, mystery and tradition for hundreds of years.

But a fresh new approach to champagne-making is bubbling up and challenging norms. Smaller houses are making unique and exciting expressions, exploding centuries of convention with every cork they pop. Wine critics are giving the best of them top scores, high-end restaurants are listing them on menus, and a new breed of champagne aficionados are keeping their glasses at the ready.

“Champagne is very special it inspires a fierce loyalty. Some people have their favourite, and drink it for 10 or 20 years, and don’t ever want to change,” says Daniel Pires, chef sommelier at the Royal Champagne Hotel & Spain Champillon, northern Champagne. “But there’s growing interest in smaller labels. While the big brands are an easy choice as they are readily available, more people are looking beyond the well known into smaller champagne houses offering something a little different. Young winemakers are pushing the quality of these small labels.”

A WINEMAKING APPROACH

This new generation is bringing a winemaker’s approach to champagne: instead of ‘bubbles’ and ‘blending’, the buzzwords are ‘differentiation’ and ‘terroir’. The concept of terroir — the specific conditions, including climate, soil, and water, that give a grape its distinct flavour and aroma — has long been crucial in wine, but in Champagne, due to the way in which grapes are traditionally grown and processed, the concept is only recently gaining ground.