The Winery J.L. Bouche of Coteaux Champenois of Champagne

The Francs de Pied (Ungrafted Vines) group, which last met two weeks ago at Pasquet’s Liber Pater winery in the Graves, consists of a growing circle of vignerons who work with ungrafted vineyards planted to native varieties. The list includes Francs de Pied president Loïc Pasquet himself, vice-president Egon Müller (Mosel), and secretary Andrea Polidoro of Cupano (Montalcino) and Contrada Contro (Marche); as well as Gocha Chkhaidze of leading Georgian winery, Askaneli; Thibault Liger-Belair (Bur ...

This is the highest level set since the 2008 vintage, and comes off the back of continued sales growth of Champagne around the world. It is in stark contrast to the 2020 vintage, which was set at 8,000kg per hectare, one of the lowest yields set in recent years, following both drought and a vast drop in consumer demand during the pandemic, which saw sales drop by 18%. In 2021, Champagne experienced one of its most difficult growing seasons for many years, with frost, hail, rain and disease wreak ...

The open letter, spearheaded by Wine Traders for Alternative Formats (WTAF), highlights the environmental impact of glass manufacturing and recycling. It notes that switching from glass to alternative formats could save ‘well over a third of the carbon footprint of wine consumed in the UK’ – the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the road overnight. Alternative formats such as boxed wine, canned wine, kegs, paper bottles and pouches all have much a smaller carbon footprint than glass. Oliver ...