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CHAMPAGNE
– FUTURE –
CHAMPAGNE VIGNON PÈRE & FILS -
NON-INTERVENTIONIST
When you are the third generation of a family producing
Champagne on the Montagne de Reims, do you even
consider doing anything else? Seven hectares of vines,
divided between Verzenay and Verzy, two Grand Cru
villages, provide enough income to support just one family.
So the agreement between Stéphane and his father was that
he would take over the business, when he turned 30.
In the meantime, his dream was to become a sommelier.
But the training was not what it is today, and so he decided
to learn the ropes differently. Ten years as a wine merchant
in Alsace gave him the opportunity to taste wines from
everywhere. As the land of fine dining, it also boosted
his appetite for good food – the two are inseparable.
He returned to his native region in 2001 and now farms
67 different vineyard plots! This extreme fragmentation,
which typifies small Champagne companies, has put a
curb on one of his ambitions, and that is to go organic.
He is convinced that this type of wine – particularly
biodynamic – has greater depth. In Verzenay, he says
he was the first to take a more hands-off approach to
plant protection products. And his vineyards, where he
now uses grass cover, have made progress, he explains.
From a flavour perspective, he wants to “go further than
his father”, or does he? His father was the village’s “latestarter”,
still working with barrels. But today, Stéphane also
uses casks made from oak sourced on the ‘Montagne’. He
has improved vineyard selections, uses massal selections
and wild ferments and does not filter or fine his wines...
He produces Extra Brut and Brut Nature Champagnes and
as he likes to say: “I am a non-interventionist. My family
has lived on this land for 5 to 6 centuries”.
The wood for the barrels comes from Verzenay forest
itself
CHAMPAGNE SADI MALOT - ALL CHANGE
Florian and Cindy, aged 28 and 27 respectively, are the
fifth generation to make Sadi Malot Champagne. Although
they are in the process of transitioning from the previous
generation, they have some very fixed ideas for the future.
Franck, Florian’s father, stopped using herbicides in 2004
and ploughed every other row. Organic farming therefore
seemed like the logical next step. In Villers-Marmery,
where they are located, the older winegrowers don’t
understand, others are considering it, but they are the
only ones to have taken the plunge. They started in 2018.
Cindy and Florian Malot fill a barrel
SPRING 2021 GILBERT & GAILLARD - THE FRENCH EXPERTS ON WINE 35