Champagne Drappier releases ultra-natural expression

House Drappier has released a Champagne made from 100% Fromenteau, using certified organic farming methods.

Part of a new generation of all-natural fizz, Drappier’s Trop M’en Faut Champagne is thought to be the richest expression of the region’s terroir, having been made with 100 per cent Fromenteau. The native grape to Champagne, also known as Pinot Gris, is known for its body, richness and maturity and rose hue when matured.

While 300 years ago the grape was prevalent in the region, with 50 per cent of the vineyards in Champagne planted to Fromenteau, its presence began a slow decline as growers began noticing the quality of wine coming from Burgundy and replacing their Pinot Gris with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Today, Fromenteau makes up just 0.3% of the Champagne AOC, along with Petit Meslier, Arbane and Blanc Vrai.

In homage to the native grape, Drappier’s natural Trop M’en Faut is produced using the purest Champagne tradition, employing farming methods unchanged since the 12^th century. Bringing together the harvests of 2017 and 2018, the grapes hail from the wine estate’s “les Truchots” plot, where only Drappier wine is grown, and all the work carried out during the certified organic process is done by hand, with next to no intervention.

A specially selected native yeast ferments at a low temperature, and demi-muids, made exclusively from mature oak from the Orient Forest, are used.

Wines are aged in the bottle for 24 months, and sugar is never added. There is no filtration, nor clarification – malolactic fermentation takes place naturally.

The only thing that prevents the process from being entirely natural are minute traces of sulphites.

The wine is distributed by Berkmann Wine Cellars in the UK.