A Clean Green Future for Champagne

Nov 9, 2015

(Wine-Searcher) - While the big houses see the attraction of sustainability, can they bring the growers along?

A cleaner greener viticulture has been very much the topic of the year in Champagne.

Vincent Perrin, the Comité Interprofessionel du vin de Champagne's new director-general, started the ball rolling when he stressed the importance of a more environmentally friendly way of grapegrowing for the region in his first official speech at the occasion of the Saint Vincent de l'Archieconfrérie de la Champagne in January.

Champagne then formalized its commitment to sustainable growing by introducing the Viticulture Durable en Champagne (VDC) certification in July 2014; it is the first regional sustainability certification in France, and it is very much based on the national Haute Valeur Environmental (HVE) certification, which some houses and growers had already applied for.

According to Dominique Montcomble, technical and environmental director at the CIVC, the biggest reason to become more environmentally friendly lies in the temperature increase that the region has seen in the past 30 years. The mean temperature in Champagne has increased by 1.8C since the end of the '80s, and the average potential alcohol level at harvest has been increasing, impacting on Champagne's flavors. Montcomble said: "If we want to preserve our unique character, we need to do everything we can to stop the climate change; this is why the CIVC has progressed with its carbon-reduction plan since 2003. The VDC is part of this plan."

Almost immediately after its launch, Champagne Bollinger became the first house to be certified, just before the LVMH group. Gilles Descotes, chef de caves at Bollinger explained: "For more than 10 years now, we have been making changes in the vineyard, slowly eliminating most chemical products and working in a more environmentally friendly way; it was important for us to confirm our commitment by certifying straight away to set an example for our growers."

Bollinger is not the only house looking to persuade its growers to work in a more sustainable way; Veuve Clicquot is probably the largest promoter of the certification. In fact Christian Renard, vineyard director at Clicquot, has been one of the key participants in the definition of the VDC since the end of the '90s. Renard told Wine-Searcher: "My participation in this common sustainability policy was also one of the best ways to quickly progress alternative practices in the Veuve Clicquot vineyards; it guaranteed us being one of the leaders."

And, indeed, in the past five years Clicquot has phased out the use of herbicides their own vineyards; instead they now have grass in between the rows and have been tilling the soil under the vines. They are also actively promoting the same to their grape growers. This is why, since 2010, they have been paying more for herbicide-free grapes. This method seems to pay off according to Dominique Demarville, Cliquot's chef de cave, who also is responsible for the external grape growers.

"To date, around 450 of our growers have started to implement these more environmental practices, supported by our bonus scheme." Demarville added that this was about half of the growers from whom Clicquot buys grapes directly, but the house also buys in juice and wine.

This year, Champagne Philipponnat implemented a similar bonus system for grapes that were 100 percent traceable. Charles Philipponnat said: "Like many houses, we applied for VDC certification last year, yet we felt a little frustrated to have no control over the grapes we purchase. This is why we decided to allocate a small bonus to grapegrowers who work in the same way as us."

To be eligible for the bonus, the grapes have to be completely traceable – Philipponnat needs to know the exact vineyard location, the vineyard practices, and he also wants to be involved in the picking date decision.

Houses are not the only ones to have taken up the VDC certification; more and more growers are also converting.


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