In Champagne the harvest typically starts around mid September and every year about the beginning of September the CIVC publishes the start dates for the harvest across the region. You are not allowed to start picking before the date specified for your village unless you get special permission called a dérogation .
First let’s look at the list more closely and then we’ll consider what it reveals
Champagne coves a huge area
The first thing that strikes you is that it’s a long list. Champagne may only comprise some 34,000 hectares of planted vines (approximately 85,000 acres) but the vineyards are spread out over a much larger area that covers no fewer than 5 separate départements, or counties:
In fact 3 of them account for the majority of the plantings: Marne (66% of the vineyards), Aube (23% of the vineyards), and Aisne (10% of the vineyards). There are just a few plantings in two other areas: Seine-et-Marne and Haut-Marne, but nevertheless those vines too are part of the Champagne AOP.
The southernmost vineyards, those in the Aube département, are 150 kilometres or more and at least 2 hours’ drive, south of the northernmost vineyards around Reims which is in the Marne département. In fact the Aube is closer to parts of Burgundy than it is to the northern part of Champagne (you can see La Côte d’Or in the map just below the Aube)
There are over 300 villages in the list
If you have the interest and patience to count them you’ll find that there are more than 300 villages or Crus in Champagne and grapes are grown in every one of them.
Some villages such as Les Riceys in the Aube (843 hectares) , boast very extensive vineyards whilst others, such as as Châlons-sur-Velse in the Massif St. Thierry area north of Reims (just 2.1 hectares), are tiny.
Each village has its own specific start date
You may wonder how it is possible for the harvest dates to be decided with such apparent precision over such a large area. Well, it’s because in each community there is a committee of people (called colloquially Le Réseau Matu – the ‘maturity network’ if you like) who take samples of grapes every few days in the weeks preceding the harvest, analyse the acid and sugar content and then send in the results to the CIVC which in turn sets the harvest dates according to local circumstances and the rate at which the grapes are ripening in each village.
Some of the apparatus used in rural areas to analyse the grapes can be a bit rudimentary but, when combined with the local knowledge and experience of the vignerons, it gives a pretty accurate picture of what is happening in the vines as can be seen from the fact that different picking dates are often given for different grapes varieties in the same village.
So why does all this matter and what can you learn from it?
The most important thing to take from all this detail is that Champagne is hugely complex – contrary to what the general consumer might think, champagne is not all the same and the list of harvest dates shows this is a very obvious way.
This is especially true when it comes to champagnes from small producers because they tend to be made from grapes grown in a fairly tight circle around the home village and so the champagnes have more of a local character than large brands which are blended from grapes sourced throughout the entire Champagne region and therefore have a ‘brand taste’ rather than a local taste profile.
Admittedly this does not hold true in every single case, but no theory will be accurate 100% of the time so you will always be able to find exceptions to the suggestions made below. It would be a mistake therefore to follow the suggestions slavishly without adding your own knowledge and insights, but they may nonetheless serve to give you some food for thought and make you regard this ‘boring’ list of harvest dates in a different light
A) Basking in the Sunshine
If you look closely you’ll see that the villages in the Sézannais area (Marne département) tend to start harvesting earlier than other regions: Mongenost, Bethon, and Chantemerle all start picking on 10th September for all three grape varieties. In Sézanne itself and Allemant too, 2 out of 3 grape varietals will be picked starting from 10th
Why is this?
The answer is that this part of Champagne which is known primarily for Chardonnay, gets more sunshine than other areas and with more sun the grapes tend to ripen more quickly. This produces not only slightly earlier picking dates but also a rich yellow colour in the skins rather than green, plus a softer mouthfeel and different aromas than you will find in Chardonnay elsewhere, for example in la Côte des Blancs. If you find most Blanc de Blancs champagne a little too dry for your taste, Sézannais champagnes could be just what you’re looking for. Try for example Benoît Cocteaux from Montgenost.
B) Spot the difference
If you’re the type of wine drinker who enjoys discovering new wines and learning about what makes one wine different from another, you’ll love discovering the amazing diversity within Champagne. One way to delve into this topic is to learn a little more about the villages and the different harvest dates are a good place to start.
Take the villages of Pierry, Moussy and St. Martin d’Ablois, (all in the Marne département, although strangely St. Martin d’Ablois is first on the list and not shown in its correct alphabetical order)
These three villages are all in the area called Les Coteaux Sud d’Epernay. They are strung out in a line one after the other along the same road a few kilometres outside Epernay. There can’t be more than about 8 kilometres between all three and what’s more, the vineyards are along the same slope. You’d think that the harvest dates would all be the same, but a glance at the list shows you that this is far from the case.
To really appreciate the difference between one ‘terroir’ and another, even if they are close together, the next step, and it has to be said the most interesting one, is to taste some of the different champagnes for yourself. A few that would be ideal are Didier-Ducos from Saint Martin d’Ablois, José Michel from Moussy and J-M Sélèque from Pierry.
C) On the chilly side
2014 is an exception ( I told you there would be some) but in most years it’s a fair bet to say the villages of Mailly Champagne and Verzenay and to a lesser extent Verzy ( all in the Marne département) are amongst the last villages to start harvesting. This is because they are all in La Montagne de Reims and, especially in Mailly and Verzenay, have a high number of north-facing slopes. Planting vines on north-facing hills is usually considered a nonsense, but they have been doing it in this small area now for 200 years or more and so far no one has complained, in fact all three villages are classified as Grand Cru.
The north facing slopes do however get cold and the grapes (mainly Pinot Noir) are often that little less ripe than elsewhere with a slightly higher level of acidity. This produces wines that have great power and also wonderful freshness and huge ageing potential. If you appreciate champagne that demands your attention rather than being simply an aperitif that you don’t take much notice of, then this area is the place to look. A few names to look out for are La Maison Penet in Verzy, Pehu-Simonet from Verzenay and Lucien Roguet in Mailly Champagne.
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Variety, they say, is the spice of life and I can almost guarantee that there is more variety in Champagne than you ever imagined, if you know where and how to look for it.
