108 TRAVEL + L E I S U R E / M AY 2 0 1 7
announced Cédric Bouchard, a scruffi ly handsome winemaker who looks more like an
indie rocker than the producer of some of the most rarefi ed champagnes in the world.
Bouchard talks quickly and has a lot to say—much of it expressed in a rural French
version of skater slang. As we stood sampling his wines in the frigid cellars beneath his
home in Landreville, in southern Champagne, he decreed the delicate pearlescence in
one of his experimental cuvées to be “vachement monstre, quoi”—the Gallic equivalent
of ‘totally gnarly.’ This was a good thing, bien sûr.
Bubbles may be Bouchard’s pet peeve, but he’s been fi nding radical ways
to discreetly incorporate them into his wines. His hallmark is a gently elegant
spritziness, as opposed to the Perrier-level carbonation found in many commercial
sparklers. “Big bubbles are way too present in most champagne,” Bouchard
continued. “I hate it when you get a bottle with that expansive, nasty mousse. There is
no other word for it: I detest bubbles.”
Champagne, a vast region roughly an hour and a half east of Paris, has long been
dominated by multinational luxury brands that sell industrially-made fi zz. In fact,
these big houses have cornered more than 70 per cent of the market, buying up
grapes from vintners all over the region. Now a new generation of récoltants-
manipulants (the private farmers who cultivate and keep their own grapes) is
rediscovering the area’s little-known heritage of still wines. Like Bouchard, these
artisan producers are creating soulful, homegrown, and, yes, sometimes bubble-free
champagnes that are increasingly in demand.
Few people outside France have ever tried a sparkle-free wine from Champagne, but
these still wines, known as Coteaux Champenois, aren’t hard to fi nd locally. You can
even buy them at the Autogrill rest stops on the highway that runs through the region.
Unfortunately, they are rarely exported. So for wine lovers like me, part of the allure of
visiting Champagne is the opportunity to sample these non-bubbly treasures.From left: Bresse chicken
at Racine restaurant,
in Reims; Elodie and
Bernadette Marion tend
their vines; a guest room
at La Maison de Rhodes,
in Troyes.“I can’t
s ta nd
bubbles,”
110 TRAVEL + LEISURE / MAY 2017