The extent to which Champagne as an idea or a commodity is attractive internationally is because of the PR work that is done by the big houses.
If you haven’ t approached grower Champagnes yet for fear that they are going to be too odd, I urge you to take a stab. They may be idiosyncratic at times, and not all of them are even that, but they are by no means odd. And in most instances, when they are idiosyncratic, they are that way in a very distinctive form, but they still have the breed and the polish, the finesse and the graciousness— particularly with food at the table— that characterizes all good Champagne. The other thing I need to warn people about is that once you discover and develop a taste for grower Champagne, you will find it very hard to return to the négociants.
GH: The big houses obviously have enormous resources, and if we use Burgundy as an example again, we’ ve seen a rebound in terms of quality in the négociant houses in Burgundy. Do you see the same sort of thing happening in Champagne?
Photo courtesy Terry Theise
TT: I’ d like to see it. And because I’ d like to see it, I may be guilty of perceiving stirrings of it when they are not in fact there. I would rather that the quality improved. I think the wine world is better if the négociants are making palatable Champagne. But it does not really seem to me that that is the case.
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