TRY A “DRIER” JANUARY WITH BRUT NATURE AND EXTRA BRUT NATURE CHAMPAGNE
Ever since Alcohol Change UK launched its “Dry January” public health campaign back in 2013 to encourage the Britts to take a sacred vow to abstain from alcoholic beverages for an entire month, the rest of the world quickly jumped on the “detox” band wagon.
While staying alcohol, or in my case champagne, free for 31 days has some obvious valuable health benefits, I would argue that instead of total deprivation, opting for sensible drinking is a reasonable compromise.
January, the absolute worst & slowest month of the year, does not need to be the de-facto month of cruel and unusual punishment. Coming down from the adrenaline rush and high of the Holiday season is already brutal enough, why add to the depression?
Extreme behaviors are never clever. As in everything in life, moderation should always be the norm.
If you’re a champagne fiend like me, January can be synonymous to quality bubbly.
There’s of course a plethora of champagne styles to choose from, but in the context of my “DRIER” January theme, stick to two styles: Brut Nature and Extra Brut.
What’s the difference?
It’s all in the dosage – the small amount of sugar that is added (or not) to champagnes post-disgorgement to ameliorate the wine’s balance and determine the level of sweetness to set the style (brut, extra brut, etc.). As a rule, brut nature (aka pas dosé, zéro dosage) has 0-3 grams per litre, and no sugar added, while extra brut contains 0-6 g/l.
Sure, champagne is one of the lowest calorie wines in the world (about 90-100 calories in a glass of Brut) and has some tremendous health benefits from promoting heart health, boosting memory to helping fight diabetes and promulgating healthy skin condition – so many virtues worth raising a glass to.
But to call it diet champagne would be reductive. And please, do not ever count calories as you sip a glass of bubbly.
As Champagne ambassador and Founder/artist at La Dégustation Visuelle, Caroline Brun says
“If you are worried and care about calories while drinking champagne, you don’t deserve to drink champagne”.
My choice of Brut Nature and Extra Brut champagne styles is purely based on the spirit of nature and purity they essentially reflect. Over the past 15 years, the sustainably minded grower producers, the underdogs of the Champagne region, have produced quality cuvées with little or no added sugar – a fad that has led to the outstanding and unparalleled diversity of quality Champagne on the market today.
Both Brut Nature and Extra Brut champagnes, while typically bone-dry and intense, can display added layers of complexity and offer compelling flavors. In other words, they are tasting fabulously good!
Indeed, some of the most interesting Brut Nature and Extra Brut champagnes are elaborated by the Récoltant-Manipulant aka Grower Champagne. These are vignerons who own vineyards, grow their own grapes, and produce their own cuvées. And while they make for a small segment of the overall champagne production, they have continuously gained momentum and popularity since the 1990s creating some pretty spectacular bubbles.
The meteoric rise of the Grower Champagne movement was spearheaded by Anselme Selosse who endorsed a more artisanal way of producing champagne adhering to a terroir-driven philosophy (versus the commercial expediency raison d’être of most Maisons).
Focused on working with nature choosing less chemically driven vineyard practices to elaborate champagnes that authentically express the soil and genuinely reflect the terroir, grower champagnes have proliferated mono-cru, single-vineyards, and lower dosage champagnes. Going back to an age-old tradition of champagne making, these vignerons have also introduced novel ways of blending and maturing champagne uncommon at the bigger champagne houses – all key elements coming together to build the unique personality traits and character of their champagnes.
While most of the big Champagne Houses focus on consistency with the production of their flagship Brut Non-Vintage, the grower champagne trend is all about inconsistency, working with the vagaries of climate change, and about terroir expression, which ultimately offers us some unique quality styles of Champagne that give the bigger Maisons a good run for their money.
Go for a drier January and give the terroirists and artisans a try.
The Holiday season is behind us, but the festivities do not have to stop.
January can be the most wine’rdful time of the year with the right bottle of bubbly!
There are so many Brut Nature and /or Extra Brut Champagnes you can indulge in to take you through the end of January. Here are a few I highly recommend:
- Bruno Paillard “Première Cuvée” Extra Brut Champagne
- Champagne Mouzon Leroux & Fils “L’Atavique” Extra Brut
- Champagne Pierre Paillard “Les Parcelles” (Non-Vintage)
- Georges Vesselle Grand Cru Brut Nature Millesime
- Champagne Drappier Brut Nature
- Agrapart Terroirs Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru NV
- Hugues Godmé Brut Nature NV
- Ulysse Collin “Les Enfers” Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut
Bonne Année et bonne santé!
