Brut Nature. Disgorged February, 2023.

"In recent decades, a lot of things have been changing in Champagne. Champagne has been a place where organic viticulture was barely spoken of and biodynamics were not even considered. This is slowly starting to change. Yes, Champagne focuses heavily on blending and creating “house” champagnes-. However, new sustainable movements are growing with the next generation’s innovation and forward thinking.

In Champagne, there is a big generational shift similar to burgundy. The new generation is taking their families’ domaines and making drastic changes. Being the avid champagne lovers we are, we couldn’t be more excited.

Fabian from Champagne Chavost is one of those generational movers. He is making quite a splash in defining the idea of a grower, negociant and/or co-op. The trend in recent years has been to look for the term RM, or focus on growers, but this is evolving. Buying land in champagne isn’t easy. Young winemakers are looking for other ways to follow their dreams. Buying grapes from growers they trust and operating under negoc is a very suitable option. For example, Fabian still operates under his family’s co-op. Fabian sits on the board of their 5ha co-op and made the decision to say, “we are going organic”. Albeit aggressive, it was the only way to sway them into organic farming and show that it is the way of the future. Fabian took the time to invest in sharing his goals and passion with members through a series of tastings and educational conversations. This approach has worked quite well. They have gotten a nice portion of their growers to farm organically since 2016. These grapes have since been included in the new wines of Champagne Chavost." - the importer"