CHAMPAGNE HARVEST 2025 Bunches, bunches everywhere, nor not a bunch to press

Bunches, bunches everywhere, nor not a bunch to press   Readers who are not familiar with the inner workings of the champagne industry may be surprised by the title of this article, which is an echo of lines from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. They may also be surprised to learn that in Champagne grape growers (vignerons) are often not allowed to pick all the grapes that Nature has provided on the vines – at least not to press those grapes and turn them into champagne. In this post I’ll explain the thinking that lies behind this seemingly strange situation.    Very broadly speaking there are two types of champagne maker: on the one hand, there are the well-known houses (maisons) whose names you may well have heard of; there are some two or three hundred of these and they account for by far the lion’s share of all the bottles sold around the world but they own a relatively small share of the 34,000 or so hectares of vines planted in Champagne. They own so few vineyards

by jiles@mymaninchampagne.com (Jiles Halling) · source ↗