Unexpected treasures amid the fog

These last few weeks I have started and abandoned several articles. I could try and hide behind the Bill Watterson ‘s “You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. What mood is that? Last-minute panic”, but heatwave number three of this summer has killed every last ounce of panic I may have had. Moreover, it wasn’t creativity that was lacking, rather the nagging acknowledgement that every story I have started to write wasn’t a happy one. Sales continue to stagnate (not to say decline), Pommery remains on the verge of bankruptcy, every morning I encounter more illegal (in the sense that it is against what is required in the latest version of the appellation rule book – cahier des charges) herbicide spraying, sometimes applied in rather ingenious time-consuming fashion. Not to be outdone, pesticide spraying has also continued, notwithstanding the hot and dry summer with limited disease pressure, and to top it all off, for the last week, the mandatory anti-flavescence dorée (FD) insecticides have been applied, covering my habitat in a poisonous stench, attacking my asthma-affected lungs and giving me horrendous headaches. Lastly, a week ago Vitisphere published the unofficial findings Champagne’s oenological Institute director, Nicolas François, shared at the Sparkling Wine Conference, where he admitted that an internal test of 100 vins clairs samples showed that 75% of them were contaminated by Brettanomyces. All of these topics require a more in-depth analysis, but the hot weather seems to have lulled me into a chilled reggae island vibe, where I prefer to look at the world through pink colored glasses, which could be translated into wanting to write a hopeful story. So after a lot of head scratching and meditation I have come up with this unusual topic, that may provide some hope to aspiring champagne-makers, especially to people who did not have the good fortune to inherit vines in the region.

For a long time, the Champagne market may have been one of the most difficult wine markets to enter. In fact, until recently, it was probably easier to capture a unicorn than to start a champagne negotiant (house), but the recent crisis has opened the door to some opportunities. As the old saying goes, one’s man’s loss is another one’s gain, and the slow unraveling of the century-long Champagne balance, has created unexpected opportunities for champagne-loving entrepreneurs.

Too many grapes, not enough buyers

Namely, this year, the demand for grapes is at an all-time low, which will undoubtably lead to an oversupply of grapes – something that rarely happens in the region. Proof of this can be found in the fact that several grape contracts have not been renewed, and the grape, juice and vin clair spot markets have completely dried up. In other words, for all contract houses could get out of, they have taken the exit route. As this is highly unusual – the last time something similar happened was in the eighties – most growers have no back-up plan. Moreover, the monthly sales figures indicate that growers and cooperatives seem to be experiencing even more difficulties to sell their champagnes than houses, hence several growers would not mind selling some grapes on the side. One has to remember that grapes, juice and still wine (at least until recently) provided a regular income – something which is highly sought-after at a time that sales forecasts may prove to have been too optimistic, or importers and distributors are delaying and sometimes even defaulting on champagne payments. Furthermore, as is usual in a saturated market, buyers have been dropping the grape price per kilo in 2025 and I have heard several growers complain that grape prices are set to fall again this year, while bonuses have also been dwindling or been put on hold all together.