Clos D’Ambonnay, from the house of Krug, comes from a 1.7-acre walled vineyard. It has a release of about 5,000 bottles of champagne. In 2015, Krug released what was just its third vintage so far, the 2000 vintage, for approximately $2,000 a bottle. The cumulative revenue of around $10 million is probably not even a rounding-off error on LVMH’s balance sheet (which owns Krug) but it adds a lustre to the luxury house, similar to a diamond ring from Bulgari.
To understand the mystique behind this brand — and the others that rank among the most expensive and exclusive Champagne brands in the world — you need to understand the Champagne region in France, a region protected by law so that sparkling wines from only this area can be called Champagne.
The grapes cultivated for Champagne are grown in an area of 34,000 hectares, which is under 5 per cent of France’s total wine-growing areas, but command a significance many times that amount. This area is further sub-divided into around 320 crus or villages that are the designated growing areas within the Champagne region, divided into 280,000 plots patiently nurtured by 15,000 growers. It is on these plots that the magic is wrought, owing to the very specific micro climate of each individual plot, a concept known in French as the terroir . The terroir of each micro vineyard is defined by its climate, soil and topography.
As in the case of Clos D’Ambonnay, with just a few bottles on release and that too only in select years, it’s simple economics combined with unparalleled quality and the pedigree of a top-tier Champagne house that drives prices upwards.
Why only select years? The word ‘vintage’, etched on wine bottles, refers to the year the grapes were grown. And wines that bear this mark can be made primarily only from grapes grown that year, with certain Vintage ‘good’ years commanding a higher premium than others.
And unlike the other famous wine regions of France, such as Bordeaux or Burgundy, where the whole region announces a particular year as a ‘vintage’ year, in Champagne, the importance of the terroir of individual crus is so high that a Champagne house is allowed to declare a vintage individually.
Which brings us to another Krug label, the Clos Dus Mesnil, also the output of the grapes of a single, walled vineyard in Mesnil-sur-Oger and made exclusively from the Chardonnay grape, a type of wine known as blanc de blanc. The 2003 Clos Du Mesnil is priced around $500 a bottle.
As sixth-generation family member Olivier Krug told us, “We are simply committed to doing what Krug intended from the beginning — to make Champagne that is refined, elegant and consistent every year.” Adds Bruno Yvon, Managing Director of Moet Hennessy India, “Intense, inspiring, individual… To our discerning Indian consumer, Krug is a revelation every time.”
Of course, without the grapevine we would have no grapes or wine! In the mid- to late-1800s, a bug called phylloxera laid waste to nearly all of France’s vineyards. As a result, the fresh rootstock planted was American, on which French vines were grafted. They were also planted in a different way from how French vines were originally planted, a term known as ‘Vignes Francaise’.
And there lies the tale from the house of Bollinger. A few of Bollinger’s vineyards were spared by the bug attack and, to this day, these plots are used to produce the famed Bollinger Vieilles VignesFrancaise. As Gilles Descôtes, Bollinger’s Cellar Master, says, “Vieilles Vignes Françaises is the eternal soul of Champagne. It reveals the taste of Champagne from days gone by: a very limited production from miraculously preserved and ungrafted vines grown the traditional way”. Only 3,000 to 5,000 bottles are made during vintage years, and each costs about $500.
Just three grape varieties are used to make Champagne, and the individual labels may be a combination of the three — Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier — or may be made using just a single varietal. The Krug Clos D’Ambonnay, for example, is a blanc de noir (made only from Pinot Noir).
It’s not every wine that can claim to have been made for a tsar but Cristal is one such, from the house of Louis Roederer. If the tsars of Russia had a penchant for it, so do the rap kings of America. In his hit song ‘Hard Knock Life’, Jay-Z raps Let’s sip the Cris… Cristal was made especially for Tsar Alexander II who, apart from the remarkable champagne unlike any other he had tasted, also prized the clear crystal finish of the bottle that made it easy to detect if any poison had been added! With the end of the monarchy in 1917, Cristal exited the scene, only to be reintroduced by Louis Roederer in 1945. Cristal is not one of the most expensive champagnes in the world, and you can get a bottle of the 2006 vintage for about $200.
Winston Churchill famously said during World War I: “Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!” Churchill’s personal favourite was Pol Roger and to honour him, Pol Roger created a ‘prestige cuvee’ whose grapes are only sourced from what are known as ‘Grand Cru’ vineyards, of which there are only 17 in France. A bottle of the 2004 vintage of the Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill can be purchased for about $150.
No article on Champagne can end without a mention of possibly one of the world’s best-known monks, Dom Perignon. Popular myth ascribes the Dom, who worked at the abbey of Hautvillers, with having come up with the practice that led to Champagne — the second fermentation in the bottle.
Although that may be urban legend, Dom Perignon is commonly acknowledged as one of the finest early wine-makers, and the person who discovered the technique of making white wines from red grapes by omitting skin contact.
The Dom Perignon Rose 2004 vintage is possibly one of the most expensive bottles of Champagne you can buy in India, costing about Rs. 48,000 a bottle.
And, of course, Dom Perignon is also James Bond’s favourite bubbly.
Vikram Achanta is co-founder and CEO of tulleeho.com and Tulleeho, an alcohol consulting firm.
