I welcome the expansion of the Champagne AOC, Mark.

First of all, because I know the seriousness with which this issue is taken by the CIVC. No region of France has studied its terroir more thoroughly than Champagne (ironically enough), and everyone in the region is very mindful of the value of the AOC. It is already by far the most morsellated AOC in France, which in a way is testament to the fact that the original demarcation (always hugely political – remember the riots of 1911) was carried out fastidiously, and has been little contested. Viticulture has improved and the climate has warmed over the last 70 years, and I feel confident that the land included in the expanded AOC will justify inclusion. Inclusion, that is, in the general AOC – we’re not talking about Premier Cru or Grand Cru land here.

The new vineyards are unlikely to be great vineyards. Thus, yes, the big houses will be the chief beneficiaries of the expanded AOC, since these new vineyards will help swell the majority of pleasant but fundamentally unchallenging NV cuvées of the region. (The growers concerned will benefit greatly in a different way: a change of use from wheat or sugar beet to viticulture will be remunerative, and their land values will leap overnight.) Behind your question, though, I detect a certain scepticism. Isn’t this, perhaps, the first step in a kind of ‘Cavafication’ of Champagne, and won’t it perpetuate the inequalities which already exist between large houses and growers? I don’t think so.

I think the gravitational pull is towards Burgundy rather than Spain, and nothing will stop the growers of Champagne from keeping more and more of their grapes for themselves in the future, and in doing so creating the Champagnes de terroir which the large houses have systematically denied us throughout most of the C20. The momentum is slow but unstoppable. It is in the growers’ interests to pursue it (just as it has been in Burgundy), and the market is now ready to appreciate and reward Champagnes whose beauty is that of place rather than blend and technique. If anything, expanding the AOC cautiously will help – by removing some of the financial temptations which presently prevent growers from keeping and vinifying their own grapes.

Please see the blog entry of 11 July 2008 for more on the nitty-gritty of the revised production zone.