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An embarrassment of riches
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There are over 12,000 different brands of Champagne marketed globally. Since each of these brands produces (on an average) four different types of champagne, that makes close to 50,000 champagnes to choose from. Of course, not all of these are brought into the United States, simplifying things a bit, but still it’s a big world of bubbles out there. How do you explore it?
If you’re new to Champagne, it’s probably best to begin with the big name brands, producers like Laurent Perrier, Veuve Clicquot, Pol Roger, Taittinger or Bollinger. One thing that all of these producers have in common is that they are all negoçiants. While they may (and indeed, do) own vineyards of their own, they purchase grapes from growers throughout the Champagne region to produce their various blends. In very fine print (too fine for some of us to spot without a magnifying glass) you’ll find a series of numbers on the label preceded by the letters “NM, which signifies “negoçiant-manipulant.”
The reason to find your footing with these larger producers is that you’ll find it easier to ask for advice when you are confronted with the much larger selection of Champagne available here in the Bay Area. One you have a bit of a feel for the house styles, you can tell your wine-merchant or sommelier “Well, I like Bollinger, is this along those lines?” Whoever you’re asking will have a better idea of where to lead you.
Of course, there are many smaller houses. One type is the “cooperative manipulant.” These are made by groups of growers who pool their grapes (although sometime retaining some to bottle under their own name) and produce bubbly wine. Palmer is one well-known cooperative, but the big one, best known in the United States is the house of Nicolas Feuillatte. The series of numbers on a label of this type will be preceded by the letters “CM.”
Then there are Champagnes made by the people who grew the grapes, and this is where it gets most interesting. Here you’ll get a better sense of terroir, because these producers can’t purchase grapes from all over the region. A house that is located in the Grand Cru Village of le Mesnil Sur Oger in the Cotes de Blanc will tend to make their wines from Chardonnay grapes, while a grower in the Aube will use more Pinot Noir in their cuvees. Lancelot-Pienne, Reulle Pertois, Voirin Jumel and Serge Mathieu are all excellent grower-producers, whose labels will have the letters “RM” leading the series of numbers.
Fortunately, there are many stores in the greater Bay Area that carry a number of “RM” Champagnes—K&L Wine Merchants, D&M Fine Wines and Spirits, Blackwells, and Beltramos to name just a few.
By the way, while we’re talking numbers, it is estimated that there are roughly 56 million bubbles in the average bottle of Champagne.
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