Bubbling Up Downunder
Meets the devotees who are putting on the spritz
When Canvas asked me to investigate small, independent Champagne merchants who were shaking up the bubbles industry, my shoulders jiggled, my ribs squeezed and I did that thing where your breath whistles through your clenched teeth because you’re trying to stifle laughter. Then the snort came out. “What’s so funny?” “Um it’s just you said ‘shake up’ the bubbles industry, and when you shake fizzy wine it, makes a massive mess and um..” Awkward pause. “Hilarious. You’ve got 10 days.”
It’s a little-known nugget of knowledge that our nation of nek-minnits and yeah-nahs soaks up a surprisingly large volume of Champagne. In 2018 we were the 23rd highest importer of it in the world, quite a feat considering our tiny population. However you’d also assume the crushing blows Covid-19 has landed on our economy over the past six months would’ve curbed our thirst for expensive French fizz. Not so. Many of my sources in the trade are saying demand has never been higher.
Yet demand is still dominated by the big brands, many belonging to massive luxury goods conglomerates, banks and such, and that’s not a bad thing. They’re absolutely delicious, those Cliquots, Bollingers, Taittingers, Heidsiecks and Mumms, with great history and pedigree. But just because your mates in Masterton gave you a magnum of Moët* for your wedding back in the millennium year, doesn’t mean you’re beholden to it. Time’s nigh for something different. Happily there’s a clutch of local importers besotted with bubbles, hell-bent on hunting down and heroing the little growers, the families for whom fizz is their entire livelihood.
But first, some background. Champagne must come from the Champagne region in France and its name is sacrosanct under law as a protected designation of origin, not to mention a profitable trademark. The French insist that the method of creating the bubbles behind Champagne’s allure was discovered by accident, by a Benedictine monk named Perignon in 1697. Apparently he’d bottle the abbey’s wine just before winter and the subsequent cold weather meant it wouldn’t ferment completely until the weather got warmer again in the spring. The dormant yeasts would roar back to life, creating CO2 bubbles inside the bottles, many of which exploded. This upset Perignon no-end because shrapnel from one exploding bottle would often cause others to shatter, creating a heck of a mess.
However, when tasting the wine that did actually survive he became very pleasantly surprised at how deliciously dry it tasted.
The English dispute this. “We definitely beat Dom Perignon by at least 22 years,” says Tom Stevenson, author of Christie’s World Encyclopaedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine. He and other bubbles boffins believe it was an English physician named Christopher Merret who, in 1662, was the first to document how the method of adding sugar to a still wine caused it to become fizzy. English gentry went gaga for this new drink, news reached France, and, (the story goes), spies were sent to investigate. Though it may have been an Englishman who made the process official, the Methode Traditionelle (as it’s now known) was undeniably perfected with pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier in the cellars of Champagne.
Why Champagne? It’s one of the coldest areas in France, meaning its grapes carry the high natural acidity and minerality necessary for the best flavours and textures. The grapes must be hand-picked and the vineyards aren’t allowed to be irrigated. It’s a labour-intensive, complicated process, which explains why these wines are pricier than most.
However, just as in New Zealand, some of the best wines are made by smaller producers. They’re known as “growers”, who tend their own grapes and make wine from their own crops (while the big-name boys blend fruit from around the region). But because they’re often tiny, Mum-and-dad operations, they rarely venture beyond their own local village, let alone market themselves overseas. And that’s where sparkles-obsessed, specialist importers come into their own.
Audrey Ferguson (nee Cauet) arrived in New Zealand in 2012 and has operated My Little France (mylittlefrance.co.nz) from her home on Waiheke since 2014. She imports wines in time for Christmas each year from Champagne Joseph Desruets in Hautvillers (Hautvillers Abbey was famously the home of winemaker monk Dom Perignon).
“I was born in Reims and when I was 12 my parents moved to a tiny village in the Vallee de la Marne called Fleury-la-riviere,” she explains. “There were 800 inhabitants for about 20 champagne producers!” Audrey worked at these wineries during her school holidays, absorbing knowledge and developing a love for the style. “To me, Champagne is magic. It’s also a supremely feminine wine. I love everything about it: the seductive honey colour, the tiny bubbles, the scents and tastes. I love the mood Champagne creates; a feeling that no other wine comes close to.” And Audrey’s reason for launching into importing? “After I met my fiancee in New Zealand and decided to settle on the other side of the world, my main concern (after telling my family) was: what was I going to drink? Champagne is expensive in New Zealand!” So she brought in her own. Audrey’s keen to tell the stories of Champagne families and introduce Kiwis to the quality of unknown brands. “In people’s minds, Champagne is luxury; to me Champagne it is an artisanal product made by a family, passing the know-how and tradition generation after generation.” She says it’s a hobby business “because I drink all the profit!”
Auckland-based Three French Vines (threefrenchvines.co.nz) belongs to Andrew and Marie Lindsay, who’ve been importing French fizz for fans for four years. “We love Champagne and consider it the greatest drink in the world,” gushes Marie. “As far as I’m concerned, grower Champagne is the only Champagne! We love the people, their stories, their passion, their knowhow and the glorious countryside.” Their website features grower Champagnes from motherdaughter producer Marion-bosser, Jean Josselin, Etienne Calsac, Maurice Vesselle, Monmarthe, Cristian Senez, Waris-larmandier, the organic, biodynamically focused De Sousa (whose vineyards are ploughed by horse), and Fleury-gille. “Each of these brands represents a small piece of land, a family and the individual personality of the grower. It’s their life’s work from one generation to another, and hands-on from start to finish. Every vintage is different (tat’s what makes them so exciting) and it’s the Champagne the French drink!” adds Marie.
Another Champagne champion is importer John Follas of Truffle Imports (truffle.net.nz) in Wellington. Tucked away on the third floor of the Fogel Building on Garrett St is a small showroom stacked with the best Champagne producers you’ve never heard of. Follas calls it “Farmer Fizz”.
“Most of our wineries are organic or biodynamically driven and have been for decades, they just don’t make a fuss about it,” he says. “They’re real wines made by real people and mostly at modest prices which reflect the cost of their creation — no large advertising or PR budgets to satisfy here.”
Specialist French importers Maison Vauron (mvauron.co.nz) also have a solid selection of grower champagnes including those from Pierre Moncuit, Gatinois (who sell half their grapes to Bollinger), Albert Le Brun, Leon Launois and Nathalie Falmet.
You pronounce the “t”. It’s Mo-wet, not Mo-way, okay?