Champagne: From Zero to Hero?
Cherished by supermodels and calorie-counters the world over, zero-dosage Champagnes are in danger of becoming achingly trendy.
Yet acolytes of this divisive style of fizz may be surprised to learn that Laurent Perrier began selling a Grand Vin Sans Sucre as early as 1889. However, such pioneering efforts only really took off in the late 20th Century, when some consumers began to seek out drier, lighter styles of bubbly.
Of course, several houses were only too keen to service this fad, and before you knew it, the number of zero-dosage Champagnes had reached sufficient numbers to qualify as an enduring niche.
The latest house to join this expanding club is Bruno Paillard, which launched its zero-dosage NV recently in London.
The fruit quality is admittedly excellent, although as many critics repeatedly assert, there is perhaps an inevitable austerity inherent to zero-dosage Champagnes, particularly on the finish.
Nevertheless, this trend is not unique to Champagne – Franciacorta produces a relatively high percentage of low and non-dosage wines, an obvious marketing hook for the region as low sugar food products are currently in vogue.
In contrast, zero-dosage Champagnes account for less than 2 percent of the total production in Champagne, although they seem to be appearing on wine lists with a growing frequency.
"Most of our Champagnes are zero or very low dosage, including our house Champagne Francis Boulard Les Murgiers Brut Nature," says Laure Patry, executive head sommelier at Social Wine & Tapas.
"We focus mostly on small growers not famous houses, as we like to introduce them to our clientele."
Yet it is the grande marques that have arguably done the most work in terms of pushing zero-dosage cuvées into the mainstream.
In 2014, Louis Roederer launched their inaugural non-malolactic, zero dosage vintage Champagne – the brand's first new product in 40 years.
Part of the catalyst which led Roederer to release the wine was – yes, you've guessed it – climate change; during the last decade Champagne "enjoyed" three August harvests, the first time in history that three have occurred within a 10-year span.
Indeed, with the growing conditions projected to warm up by at least 0.4 C over the next five years, the Champenois are continuing to adjust their viticultural and vinification methods to the modern reality.
Whether this will lead to low and zero-dosage cuvées becoming the norm, rather than the exception, is hotly contested in the region, but abstaining from malolactic fermentation and dosage is one way of preserving higher acidity in a warming climate.
It's certainly a contentious issue – many owners and winemakers continue to dodge this question when I raise it; perhaps because they're all working on zero-dosage projects in secret?
However Benoît Gouez, chef de cave of Moët & Chandon, was more forthcoming.
"Many journalists raise the question of Moët producing a zero-dosage cuvée and my answer is always: I doubt it," says Gouez.
"I have serious reservations about this style of Champagne, which I believe is a passing fad spurned on by trend-concious sommeliers rather than an indication of genuine consumer interest. Dosage is an essential part of the winemaking process – it is a reductive element that plays a vital role in the development of Champagne."
Gouez underlines the point that what matters most in aging is the balance of the wine, and this is exactly the role of the dosage, even if the fruit is perfectly ripe.
"Very few, if any, Brut Natures are balanced if they are a standard NV blend without the addition of sugar," he observes.
"I doubt their ability to age and besides, the sugar/health aspect is nonsense as the calories are contained in the alcohol, which remains regardless of whether the Champagne is subject to dosage or not."
That is not to suggest, however, that Gouez refuses to modify his approach.
At the launch of Moët & Chandon's 2012 Grand Vintage last month, the intrepid chef de cave admitted that since the start of his tenure, the dosage of the Moët Brut Imperial and Grand Vintage has become consistently lower, due to the rising levels of ripeness in Champagne.
"We don't make a big deal about it, as I don't think mainstream consumers are interested in dosage, but the Grand Vintage 2012 is actually Extra Brut (5 g/l)," says Gouez. "This would have been unthinkable two decades ago."
Meanwhile, Louis Roederer's Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon has stated that the house has dropped the dosage on their Brut NV, which is now down to 9 g/l, from around 12 g/l in 2002. The brand may also release a successor to the 2006 Brut Nature, if the conditions are right.
This raises an important question – do consumers, by and large, really want their Champagnes on the raw, mouth-puckering side of dry?
Aside from a small number of acolytes, both in and outside of the trade, the evidence suggests consumers prefer a dose of sugar in their flute, particularly if one considers the stratospheric success of Extra Dry Prosecco, which averages 13-17 grams of sugar per liter.
"A certain level of sweetness is essential if a wine is to become a crowd pleaser. I would say between 4 and 8 grams depending on the structure. We see a lot drinkers prefer New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to Sancerre, yet they argue that they prefer dryness. Most drinkers cannot describe what they like," says John Chan, sommelier at Amber restaurant in Hong Kong.
"In my opinion, zero dosage is like 90-percent cacao dark chocolate. It is very cool for you to show others you eat 90 percent cacao chocolate but there is no balance or enjoyment for most drinkers."
London-based sommelier Andreas Rosendal adds: "I don't sell as much zero-dosage as I would like. There is this kind of romantic purity about a zero-dosage which has made it very trendy and I kind of like the idea myself.
"But my experience with zero-dosage is that they tend to be quite aggressive and austere in their youth. They need some time in the cellar to calm down a bit before they actually become enjoyable."
However, others insist that there is a welcome and growing role for low and zero-dosage sparkling wines in the consumer repertoire.
"We do carry quite a few zero or low dosage wines, but we don't sell them that way. We talk to our guests and try to find the wine that suits them the best. Some zero-dosage wines are certainly not balanced, and exceedingly austere, others are just simply amazing," says Cedric Nicaise, wine director at New York's Eleven Madison Park.
"Although I feel that some Ultra Brut, or Brut Nature wines could use a little more sugar, I do believe that the adding of less sugar is the right path for balanced wines."
Ultimately, of course, context is everything and the target audience of a leading Michelin-starred restaurant is more likely to be amendable to trying a zero-dosage cuvée from an obscure grower than a New Year Eve's punter.
But I cannot help but feel that zero-dosage styles would never be welcomed en masse, even if the Champenois started churning out large quantities with a sudden fever.
Bone dry and sweet wines can be equally intimidating to consumers, and the majority seem to welcome a little residual sugar and a more "rounded" flavor profile.
"Zero-dosage is not a huge seller for us, although it ticks over," says wine buyer Christine Parkinson. "We also find quite a few people enjoy wines with a little bit of sweetness – Moët's Ice Imperial is a clever reinvention, which sold steadily at our Yauatcha City site in 2016."
But equally, there is no question that a lot of people do not understand sweetness in wine – the term dry is one of the most often heard requests when someone is asking for their weekend tipple.
Zero-dosage cuvées fit nicely into that narrative, although whether the consumer actually enjoys their glass of fizz is open to intense debate.
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