Historic grape varieties

The forgotten grape varieties of Champagne. Many people don't realise that seven varieties are permitted in Champagne for the production of champagne: two black grapes and five white. For several decades now, almost only three varieties have been cultivated and used in Champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The reason lies in the optimisation of yields. Today, 99.7% of the vineyards in Champagne are planted with these three varieties.

A handful of growers have taken it upon themselves to keep cultivating historic Champagne varieties and to preserve them for future generations. The four now almost purely historic varieties are all white: Arbane, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris. The vineyard area planted with these four varieties amounts to less than 0.3% of the total planted area of Champagne.

Nevertheless, these four white varieties have every right to exist. The wonderful champagnes that can come from these almost forgotten grapes are shown by the single-variety Pinot Blanc champagnes of the Fleury family, with the Fleury Notes Blanches Brut Nature, and by the grower Noel Leblond-Lenoir, with the Cuvée Perle de Dizet. Champagne Noel Leblond-Lenoir also makes a single-variety Arbane champagne, the Cuvée Arbane. Since these are single-variety and, as a rule, single-vineyard champagnes, they are naturally made only in very good years.

As the variety is grown on just one small vineyard, production is limited to a maximum of 600 bottles a year.

Historic grape varieties

The Arbane grape is an indigenous variety that grows only in Champagne, and there only in the Côte des Bar. Only three growers (as of 2019) make single-variety Arbane champagnes. But be warned: anyone who has had the pleasure of tasting one may well fall for it.