Strip Champagne down to its basics: Take out the glitzy marketing, the additives, and the pesticides, and make the farmer the producer—that’s grower Champagne. “Farmers’ fizz,” as it’s been called, is Champagne that’s made by the farmers who use their own grapes to make it.
“I would only drink grower Champagne,” said sommelier Doreen Winkler. “It’s an honest product; it’s delicious; it’s headache-free.” Winkler, of Diamond Sommelier Services, consults for Urban Uncorked in Brooklyn, where the wine selection consists of 80 percent natural wines.
Most grower Champagne producers use organic practices, Winkler explains; some are certified organic and a handful are biodynamic. It’s not easy to make wine in France’s Champagne region: The climate is cold and damp, and pesticides are convenient.
“I think everybody should care a little bit more [about] what they’re putting in their bodies,” she said. “A lot of people just care about eating organic. A lot of people don’t think about what’s in their drinks, what’s in their vodka, what’s in their wine.”
What you get, too, with Champagne made by a farmer, is a product that changes from year to year. “Yes, it changes every year, but that’s what wine is. Wine isn’t consistent; wine isn’t supposed to be very consistent,” Winkler said. It’s the opposite of a giant Champagne house like Veuve Clicquot, whose products are “very consistent,” says Winkler, “because they basically have their formula and what they’re adding.”
As a real bonus, grower Champagnes are also more affordable than big-name Champagnes.
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