Champagne 2019: A Response

At Wine-Searcher we value our readers' opinions and we are happy to give them the chance to offer a different perspective on the news.

With that in mind, we present a defense of the 2019 season in Champagne from Charles Curtis, a Master of Wine, author and fine wine adviser, who disagrees with our contributor Caroline Henry's assessment of the vintage.

I am writing with a brief note in response to the Caroline Henry article on Champagne.

Although she has noted many of the salient characteristics of the 2019 growing season, I fear that she has drawn conclusions that are not entirely warranted by the evidence and may in fact mislead those interested in vintage Champagne.

For my part, I am very encouraged by the general reports of the balance between the acidity and the ripeness in the fruit across the region. While it is true that some sorting will be required, this is far from unusual in Champagne, and I am encouraged that talented producers will have the potential to produce an outstanding result.

As she notes, growers will have to sort for oidium and for sunburn, and this will bring yields down in 2019. However, in Champagne, growers have to sort almost every year for one reason or another. In large measure the reason the harvest is short is that after the copious 2018 harvest the reserve is full or largely full throughout the region. This means that by not increasing the harvest in 2019 growers will be required to sort thoroughly, and thus that the system is working to guarantee quality, and lesser-quality fruit will be sent for distillation. A propos of the 2019 harvest, it should be pointed out that it is almost always the case that powdery mildew is present if there is little downy mildew: as it is said among growers "Rot never dies". Ultimately, the official assessment is that the sanitary condition is good.

One should remember that it is entirely consistent with the natural cycle of the vine to produce less after an abundant year, and this is not a bad sign, but simply the indication that nature is performing as expected. Although it is certain that climate change is occurring, opinions regarding the effects on the Champagne region are far from unanimous. In actual fact, yields and quality have been rising gently in tandem for years.

While there are dangers – notably increasingly warm winters leading to early budbreak and thus increased risk of frost, as well as a general decline in acidity levels at harvest – in general the effects of climate change in Champagne to date have been beneficial. The ability of the CIVC to manage the output of the region to improve quality while satisfying as many stakeholders as possible is far from pernicious, it is a benefit to all.

Besides the noted confusion over the overall quality of the harvest, the implications of the size of the harvest, and the sanitary condition of the grapes, the other difficulty with her analysis is that she represents falling volumes in a negative light, when it should be noted to give a complete picture of the situation, revenue has been climbing steadily. What is "stalled" is the sale of cheap fizz in supermarkets, not the sale of top wines from top producers.

Ultimately, with acidity remaining fairly strong in spite of the heatwave due to cool temperatures at night and the lack of water stress, many in the region feel that the prognosis for the 2019 Champagne harvest is actually very robust. Given the sugar/acid balance, with proper sorting this has the potential to be a year like 2004 or better yet like 2012, and that is a good thing.

* Got something you want to get off your chest? Get in touch here.