Grands Crus    versus     Grandes Marques Champagnes

CHAMPAGNE

written by Benoît Marguet of Marguet Père et Fils in Ambonnay

In Champagne, the confusion between Grands Crus vineyards and Grandes Marques is strong, as well as the recent interest for its explanation.

The market has been driven for centuries by the Grandes Marques (négociants) who declared themselves as “the greatest brands” of Champagne region.  In fact, this was more a name given to a group the largest producers. It has been perceived by customers, that all of the Grandes Marques Champagnes, according to their great quality,  were made from the finest vineyards of the Champagne Appellation, called Grands Crus.

Off course, reality is different.

Grandes Marques have been representing Champagne world wide, introducing it as the finest wine in the world so far, and truly this is right !

There sales represent 80% of the total sales in Champagne. They own 20% of the vineyards.

The vignerons or growers are thousands of families that own all together 80% of the vineyards. They carefully cultivate the majority of the grapes in the region. They also sell about 20% of the total Champagne production under their own brand, in most case their family names.

HISTORY

Since the 18th century, the price of the grapes paid by the négociants to the growers has fluctuated depending of :

• the quality of the grapes coming from each village.
• supply and demand, considering that during recessions times mostly grapes from the best villages  were bought.

In 1816, the villages, now also named Crus, were rated from 5th Class to first class.

In 1873, the famous newspaper  La Vigne, writes for the first time the notions of Grands Crus, Premiers Crus and Seconds Crus. Each village belongs to one, and it is a semi-official reference for pricing the purchasing of grapes.

In 1895, The first official classification written by vineyard managers and Chef de cave (winemakers) was published in the local newspaper Le Vigneron Champenois.

The best vineyards are called Grands Crus, and represent 13 villages: Ambonnay, Avize, Ay, Bouzy, Cramant, Mailly, Mareuil sur Ay, Le mesnil sur Oger, Montféré, Oger, Sillery, Verzenay and Verzy.

Since 1927, all the vineyards of Champagne are quality-rated on a village-by-village basis by a percentile system known as the “ECHELLE DES CRUS” or growth classification (literally translated as "scale of growths", essentially a quality scale).  Those villages that have been awarded the maximum "Echelle" of 100 % are classified as “GRANDS CRUS”, whereas those rated between 90 and 99 % are “PREMIERS CRUS”, and the lowest –rated villages are 80 %.  It would be unrealistic  to expect such a classification to start at 1 %, since no village with one-hundredth the potential of a GRAND CRU would merit Appellation, but the ECHELLE DES CRUS was originally a true percentile system, with villages ranked as low as 22.5 % and a spread of villages in the middle ground. However, due the various ad-hoc re-classifications and political posturing, the minimum Echelle has gradually increased and, in truth, the present system is no more than a 20-point scale.

TODAY

The Champagne region counts about 34000 hectares (83,300 acres) in production.  

They are located on 319 villages, near the cities of Reims and Epernay mostly, North-East of France, as well as the Southern portion around the city of Troyes, better known as the Aube, around the Aube and Seine rivers.

All together, they share the same climate, methods, and interest in producing the finest grapes.

• The Grands Crus villages are 17 and represent 13% of the Appellation:

Ambonnay, Avize, Ay, Beaumont sur Vesle, Bouzy, Chouilly, Cramant, Mailly, Le Mesnil sur Oger, Louvois, Oiry, Oger, Sillery, Puisieulx, Tours sur Marne, Verzenay, Verzy.     

All the vineyards are laying on a close chalk sub-soil, and have the finest exposures.

• The Premiers Crus are 46 villages surrounding mainly the Grands Crus region.

They represent 19% of the Appellation.

Vineyards are laying on chalk, limestone and clay sub soils.

• The Seconds Crus cover 256 villages, and represent 68% of the Appellation.

Vineyards are planted on chalky, but mainly limestone soils, clay or sand (west of Reims) or Kimmeridgien limestone (Aube), which is a harder and geologically older limestone, more like the Chablis region.

The Echelle des Crus is used every year at harvest time to determine the purchasing price of the grapes. In 2008, the price of Grand Cru grapes was nearly 6 euros per kg. A Premier Cru rated 90% is paid 10% less. Slightly more than 1,2 kgs is required to elaborate a 750 ml bottle of Champagne.

GROWING INTEREST IN THE CHAMPAGNE GROWTH CLASSIFICATION

Since 2000, sales of growers Champagne have been increasing significantly.  At the same time, wine lovers are looking to know better the wine region they like. The result is a growing demand for the Grands Crus and  Premiers Crus Champagne wines.

Grandes Marques have extended the production of deluxe cuvées (blends) to answer a rising demand. They also created new ones, like rosé or Clos (single vineyard surround by a wall).  Their need of the best grapes has become ever more important over the years.

Prestige Cuvée Champagnes like Cristal of Roederer , Comtes of Taittinger, Dom Pérignon of Moêt & Chandon, Grand Siècle of Laurent-Perrier, Grande Dame of Veuve Clicquot, Louise of Pommery, Belle Epoque of Perrier Jouet, Noble Cuvee of Lanson or Winston Churchill from Pol Roger  are exclusively made from Grands Crus and Premiers crus grapes, but it is never mentioned on the label !

The rare and famous Clos d’Ambonnay and Clos du Mesnil from Krug, Clos des Goisses from Philipponnat, Clos Saint Hilaire from Billecart-Salmon, Salon, or Vielles vignes Françaises from Bollinger are at least made from Premiers Crus grapes though in most cases these Clos are Grand Crus.

WHY DO GRANDES MARQUES NOT MENTION THE GROWTH CLASSIFICATION ON THEIR LABELS ?

• Only their deluxe Champagne can claim to be made from the top classification grapes, but not the rest of their range, which represents most of the sales.
• From a customer's point of view, one would assume that all the wines of a Grande Marque are necessarily made from the best vineyards. Noting the actual source of grapes can tarnish the image.
• For years, they have been marketing their quality with a brand name, developing the Brand concept to the wine world, rather than the origin of the grapes, like it is the case in Burgundy or Bordeaux for example.
• It can interfere with some Grands Crus wines from growers whose prices are more reasonable and create competition.

Champagne MARGUET Père & Fils

Champagne MARGUET cultivates vineyards since 1870, and started selling its first Champagne bottles in 1905. Current owner, Benoit MARGUET, also vineyard manager and winemaker is the 5th generation.  Today the Marguet-Bonnerave family owns vineyards in 5 Grands Crus villages: Ambonnay, Bouzy, Mailly, Sillery and Verzenay, and in one famous Second Cru : Epernay.

For Benoit MARGUET, making fine Champagne is not only about fine vineyard locations. The reality is more complex, but of course it is the greatest start !

Making great wines is an everyday challenge, where you try to make the best decision by working hard, observing the vineyards and closely following your vines.
It is not just a full time job, it is more than that. But with a lot of passion and an open-mind, the return of your dedication brings you a lot of fun and satisfaction.