The 7 grape varieties of Champagne

Chardonnay — chalk and elegance

Chardonnay is the queen of Champagne — and that despite occupying barely 30 per cent of the vineyard area. No other wine in this world has linked the image of elegance, finesse and ageing potential so inseparably to a single white grape variety as Champagne has to its Chardonnay.

The home of Chardonnay is the Côte des Blancs, a narrow ridge south of Épernay whose east-facing slopes grow on pure chalk. The Grands Crus yield Chardonnay of cutting precision: citrus acidity, mineral salinity, an almost ethereal transparency. Blanc de Blancs from the Côte des Blancs are Champagnes that appear austere and closed in their youth and only develop, after years on the lees, that creamy complexity for which they are famous.

But Chardonnay is not confined to the Côte des Blancs. In the Sézannais, a region only rediscovered late on, it grows on similar chalky limestone. Barrat-Masson in Bethon cultivates 90 per cent Chardonnay — on soils that geologically resemble those of Cramant, yet produce Champagne with its own character: somewhat broader, somewhat fruitier, with a creamy texture that adds a warmer note to the pure chalk Chardonnay of the Côte des Blancs.

What makes Chardonnay so valuable in Champagne is its ability to age. A Blanc de Blancs from Larmandier-Bernier needs five, seven, sometimes ten years on the lees to unfold its full potential. De Sousa in Avize goes even further: biodynamic farming with horses, Grand Cru Chardonnay whose complexity recalls the finest white Burgundies. Altogether we carry 72 available Blanc de Blancs from 18 growers, from young and taut bottlings to Grand Crus matured for many years.

Pinot Noir — Structure and Depth

At around 38 per cent, Pinot Noir is the most widely planted variety in Champagne — and the most paradoxical. From a red grape whose juice is colourless, white sparkling wine is born. What remains is the structure: Pinot Noir gives Champagne its backbone, its fruit depth and that vinous character which sets it apart from the pure Chardonnay style.

The Montagne de Reims is the historic heartland of Pinot Noir. Marguet in Ambonnay bottles four different single vineyards separately — each revealing another facet of what Pinot Noir can achieve on limestone.

The second stronghold lies in the south: the Côte des Bar, geologically closer to Chablis than to Reims, is Pinot Noir country. Françoise Martinot in Celles-sur-Ource presses one hundred per cent Pinot Noir on warm marl: Champagne with a Burgundian soul, vinified by her son Charles Dufour. Petit Clergeot in Polisot takes the concept to its radical conclusion: one plot, one grape variety, one vintage — Pinot Noir as the unblended expression of a specific vineyard.

Blanc de Noirs — Champagne made exclusively from red grape varieties — was long a niche product. Yet among grower Champagnes, Blanc de Noirs has established itself as a category in its own right: more vinous, fuller-bodied, with a structure that makes it an outstanding companion at the table.

Meunier — The Underestimated Backbone

For decades, Meunier was the pariah among Champagne grapes. The third variety. The stand-in. The grape you needed because it was frost-resistant and ripened early — not because you wanted it. Not a single Grand Cru is predominantly planted with Meunier. No grande maison has ever marketed a single-varietal Meunier cuvée as a prestige wine.

This hierarchy was always wrong. Meunier — formerly known officially as Pinot Meunier, now called simply Meunier by many growers so that its kinship with Pinot Noir is not mistaken for subordination — covers 32 per cent of the vineyard area. In the Vallée de la Marne, where the valley sites are cooler and more exposed to frost, it dominates.

Georges Laval in Cumières, one of the most uncompromising winemakers in Champagne, bottles single-vineyard wines in which Meunier plays a central role — Les Chênes and Les Hautes Chèvres are lieu-dit names, not grape varieties, and that is precisely the point: Meunier as a vehicle for terroir, not as a stopgap. Jérôme Blin in Vincelles and Régis Poissinet complete the picture: Meunier specialists who give the variety a stage through organic viticulture and minimal intervention.

The rehabilitation of Meunier is part of a broader movement: away from the hierarchical ranking of grape varieties and towards the question of what a variety can achieve in a specific place. In the Vallée de la Marne, Meunier is not the third choice. It is the first.

Our range reflects this: more than 70 available Champagnes with a share of Meunier. Tarlant takes it to the extreme with the single-variety, undosed La Vigne d’Or Brut Nature Blanc de Meuniers 2009.

The four forgotten ones: Arbane, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris

In the 19th century, Champagne was a mosaic rich in grape varieties. Alongside Pinot Noir and Chardonnay — the latter only becoming dominant later — dozens of local varieties grew in the vineyards. Four of these historical varieties are still authorised. Together they account for less than one per cent of the vineyard area.

Assemblage vs. single varietal

The assemblage is the heart of classical Champagne. Chardonnay provides acidity and elegance, Pinot Noir structure and fruit depth, Meunier juicy accessibility. The cellar master’s art lies in composing these building blocks into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Yet since the 1990s, a counter-movement has been growing. More and more winemakers are bottling single-varietal wines — not to abolish the assemblage, but to demonstrate what a variety can achieve in a specific place. Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, Coteaux Champenois — Champagne is opening up to a diversity that the industrial era almost suffocated.

Marguet in Ambonnay bottles four single vineyards separately — each one a wine in its own right, revealing the terroir of a specific plot of land. Georges Laval does the same in Cumières with his lieux-dits. These are approaches that owe more to Burgundy than to classical Champagne — and they pose a simple question: if every variety has its own character, why should it be allowed to disappear in the blend?

The answer is nuanced. In certain vintages and in certain places, blending produces the better wine. In others, a single-varietal bottling is the more honest expression. The winemakers on lebendigeweine.de understand both — and decide vintage by vintage what best serves the wine.

Our winemakers and their grape varieties

The Champagne winemakers on lebendigeweine.de work with the entire spectrum of permitted varieties — from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir via Meunier to the rare, forgotten ones.

Anyone who places Chardonnay from Pertois-Lebrun alongside Meunier from Jeaunaux-Robin and Arbane from Horiot understands Champagne for what it truly is: not one grape variety, not three, but seven.

More about the terroirs of Champagne

Discover our grower Champagnes

Frequently asked questions