Champagne: A Dirty Business?

Revulsion, and not the hoped-for gentle euphoria, can be the result of a close look at some of the vineyards in champagne. Crusted, compacted by the to-and-fro of tractors, an ashen grey in color from the dead vegetation as a result of the chemical herbicide use that is all too common even today, the soil is flecked with blue plastic, the remains of years of dumping Parisian garbage on the vineyards as “urban compost”. Although this practice was forbidden in 1999, it has left its mark. Many of the larger producers wince in sympathy when a visitor questions the state of these vineyards, but then go on to shrug their shoulders and explain that they have little real control over the vineyards that supply their grapes, since they are bought on contract from the co-operatives.

Champagne, like other wine growing regions in France, went through a rapid “modernization” after the Second World War, as the producers responded to the need for increased production by adopting chemical fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides, often at the urging of advisors paid by the government and incentivized by chemical companies, who encouraged spraying proactively on a regular schedule against rot and mildew. The stage was set for an environmental disaster in the vineyard, and other practices compounded the problem. The use of urban compost, called “boues de ville” was actually an attempt at recycling, but the net effect was to increase the presence of heavy metals in the soil through the presence of batteries in the compost.

In response, Champagne slowly began to change, and in 2001 the region’s regulatory body, known as the CIVC, began to roll out a sustainable grape growing program that was ahead of its time. The essence of the programme, known as “Viticulture Raisonnée,” was to reduce the use of chemical inputs in the vineyard each year and to limit spraying to the reacting to threats instead of the proactive scheduled spraying. The system also managed waste water disposal and mandated the recycling of all of the by-products of wine production.

Following this, the French government worked out a system to certify that a business actively took the steps necessary to respect the environment. This certification, known as HVE for “Haute Valeur Environnementale” was launched in 2011. The law created three tiers, and those producers who attained level three could represent themselves as a producer of Haute Valeur Environnementale. To attain this level it was necessary to take specified steps to increase biodiversity, decrease spraying and the use of fertilizers and manage the use of water correctly.

Today, the region has fully woken up to the importance of the respect for the environment. It seems that every producer wants to showcase their efforts, and gifts of small jars of honey from the bees that contribute to biodiversity have become ubiquitous. On a recent trip, the first jar of honey came from Bollinger, which was the first large producer to attain HVE certification in 2012. They work in their own vineyards and in those belonging to their grape suppliers to ensure a maximum respect for the environment.

Another visit, another jar of honey. This time from boutique negociant A.R. Lenoble, run by Anne and Antoine Malassagne, who emphasize the importance of vineyard design in responding to the environment. They have increased the use of hedgerows, orchards, embankments, trees and low walls. These provide places for birds and bees to live, which in turn feed on the insects that can endanger the grapes, reducing the needs for pesticide use.

A third visit, a third jar of honey, this one from Vincent Bérêche, a small, high-quality grower based in Ludes. He explains his philosophy: “For us, grape growing is a complex system that it is necessary to understand in order to respect. Each action is a reflection of this. We plough the vines, we plant grasses between the rows to control the vigor of the vine and thus reduce disease. Proper use of these cover crops permit us to avoid the use of herbicide, insecticide and anti-rot treatments…All of our interventions during the growing season are managed as a function of the threshold of tolerance for disease, and thus no treatment is systematic and we adopt the agricultural best practices for their delivery, we dump no waste water and recycle all our waste.”

This approach is typical of the environmentally-conscious producers who are more and more common today. One aspect of this philosophy is notable: few are speaking about organic wine production. There are solid reasons for this reluctance. One of them is related to the cool, rainy climate of Champagne, which necessitates frequent anti-rot treatments. Organic producers use copper sulfate to combat mold and rot, as it is a natural product and not a synthetic chemical. However, spraying copper over and over again during the growing season can lead to toxicity in the soil. Many growers prefer to use a smaller amount of a more powerful treatment and to do it less often.

This philosophy is enshrined the new certification introduced by the CIVC, known as VDC, for viticulture durable de Champagne (Sustainable Grapegrowing of Champagne). They estimate that through their sustainability efforts, the carbon footprint of each bottle has been reduced by 15% over the course of the past decade. While the total number of producers certified as HVE or VDC remains modest, some of the most innovative, quality-driven producers are responding to this call, including Jean-Pierre Vazart-Coquart in Chouilly, Rodolfe Péters at Champagne Pierre Péters in Le Mesnil, and Lacourte-Godbillon in Ecueil.

Tim Hall, English champagne merchant and blogger, points up one unintended consequence of all of this work: “Nowadays very ripe grapes, which a lot of progressive growers seem to worship, can often make champagnes with new super-ripe primary flavours with high vinosity and overall less minerality. For me therefore, sustainability is as much about keeping minerality in champagne flavour.” For many in Champagne this is a good problem to have, as the region has traditionally struggled to produce ripe fruit. This, if anything, is a sign that the efforts of those in Champagne to protect the environment are finally starting to bear fruit.