Grower Champagnes or Artisan Champagnes are

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

s produced by the estate that owns the vineyards where the grapes are grown. ''Récoltant-Manipulant'' is the term in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, and Grower Champagnes can be identified by "RM" on the

wine label Wine labels are important sources of information for consumers since they tell the type and origin of the wine. The label is often the only resource a buyer has for evaluating the wine before purchasing it. Certain information is ordinarily inclu ...

.T. Stevenson, ed. ''The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia (4th Edition)'' pg 170-172 Dorling Kindersley 2005 While large

Champagne house The listing below comprises some of the more prominent houses of Champagne. Most of the major houses are members of the organisation ''Union de Maisons de Champagne'' (UMC),Mumm G. H. Mumm & Cie is a Champagne house founded in 1827 and based in Reims, France. G.H. Mumm is one of the largest Champagne houses and is currently ranked 4th globally based on number of bottles sold. The company is owned by Pernod Ricard. G. ...

, Moët et Chandon and

Veuve Clicquot Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin () is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and i ...

may use grapes from as many as 80 different vineyards in the

Champagne region The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term " ...

to create a consistent house style, Grower Champagnes tend to be more ''

terroir (, ; from ''terre'', "land") is a French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, these conte ...

''-focused, sourced from a single vineyard or closely located vineyards around a village, and made with grapes which vary with each vintage.S. Pitcher
Grower-made Champagnes are an elegant alternative to big-house bubblies
''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'', December 16, 2004 Today there are over 19,000 independent growers in the Champagne region, accounting for nearly 88% of vineyard land in the region; around 5,000 of these growers produce wine from their own grapes. Of the Champagne imported into the US in 2014, only 5% was Grower Champagne.Getting into Grower Champagne
Wine Folly, December 31, 2014

Wine styles

Grower Champagnes have been described as "

artisanal An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, s ...

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

" with ''terroir'' being at the forefront for each wine,A. Cortese
Champagne Beyond the Big Names
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', December 23, 2007 rather than an emphasis on a consistent "house style" that can be made year after year.P. Gregutt '
Bottling Their Own
'' Seattle Times, December 23rd 2007 While large

Champagne houses The listing below comprises some of the more prominent houses of Champagne. Most of the major houses are members of the organisation ''Union de Maisons de Champagne'' (UMC),Moët et Chandon may source grapes from the entire

, the vineyards owned by a Grower Champagne maker are generally clustered around a single village. Some growers will craft their wine to reflect the ''terroir'' of that village, or even specific plots within the village, especially if they own vineyards in one of Champagne's Grand crus. Grower Champagnes are often released younger than their large house counterparts due, in part, to the greater financial resources that would be needed for long term

aging Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

and storage. Many also show a lower dosage, and occasionally no dosage at all, than most negociant manipulant bottlings.

RM Champagne producers

Producers of RM Champagne include Franck Bonville, Roger Coulon, Collard-Picard, Tarlant, Nowack, Chartogne-Taillet,

David Léclapart David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Benoît Lahaye Benoît Lahaye is a Grower Champagne producer. He took over his family's domaine in the Montagne de ReimsBenoît Lah ...

Roses de Jeanne A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

, Marie-Courtin,

Vilmart & Cie Vilmart & Cie is a Grower Champagne founded in 1890 in the Montagne de Reims region. Its Premier cru sites are in Rilly-la-Montagne and Villers-Allerand. On 11 hectares of vineyards the house produces 8,500 cases annually. The vineyards are pla ...

Pierre Péters Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, Agrapart & Fils, and Marc Hébrart10 top grower Champagnes to try: Champagne resident and expert Peter Liem picks out 10 top grower Champagnes to try
decanter.com August 13, 2015 and als
Lequeux-Mercier
vine grower and champagne producer, using the traditional method for many generations, located in

Passy-sur-Marne Passy-sur-Marne (, literally ''Passy on Marne'') is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the Fr ...

Recent vintages

The 2011 vintage saw difficult conditions which created uneven wines. The 2009 vintage was warm enough to ripen the fruit, resulting full, fruity Champagnes. 2008 was an outstanding vintage, showing both high ripeness and high acidity.

Sales market

The popularity of Grower Champagne is a relatively recent phenomenon.J. Bonne '
The Chronicle Wine Selections: Grower Champagne
'' San Francisco Chronicle, December 12, 2008 Since the 18th century, Champagne houses have dominated the business dynamic in the region. These private houses or ''

negociant A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to deter ...

s'' would buy grapes from the owners of several vineyards to blend and make Champagne.H. Johnson ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'' pg 330-341 Simon and Schuster 1989 As of 2003, there were over 3,700 brands of Grower Champagnes available for purchase within

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

but only around 130 brands in the

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. As of 2008, these wines accounted for less than 3% of Champagne market, with that market growing as the wines continue to increase in popularity. Distributors and wine retailers tend to tout the comparative value and lower cost of Grower Champagnes versus the wines of larger Champagne houses, due to the larger Champagne houses' costs of mass market advertising. The smaller Growers leave it up to the importer and wine retailer to market their wines.

Criticism

A common criticism of Grower Champagnes is the potential for variable quality, especially from

vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

to vintage. While the larger Champagne houses and ''negociants'' have the flexibility to buy grapes from all over the Champagne region, Grower Champagne makers are limited to only their vineyard holdings. Conversely, advocates of Grower Champagnes say that the blending of many ''

s'' by the larger houses makes those wines "underflavored" and non-distinctive.

Vineyard lands

There are over 19,000 independent growers in the Champagne region, accounting for nearly 88% of all vineyard land in the region. Around 5000 of these growers produce wine from their own grapes. The larger Champagne houses have holdings in only 12% of the region's vineyards, making it a necessity for them to buy grapes from independent growers. Under current ''

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

'' (AOC) regulations, there are strict limitations on planting. Some growers are seeing an economic advantage in making wine from their own grapes, especially if they have land in one of Champagne's Grand cru villages, rather than selling them to the larger houses where they become part of a generic blend.

Identifying Champagnes

Champagnes can be identified by the initials that appear before a number on the wine label. The initials most commonly associated with Grower Champagnes is RM (meaning ''Récoltant-Manipulant'') but there are other initials that may appear on the label. Other initials: *The initials NM (meaning ''Négociant-Manipulant'') appear on the labels of large Champagne houses that source the majority of their grapes rather than growing them. *CM (meaning ''Coopérative-Manipulant'') is a

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

of growers who blend the product of their collective vineyards to sell under one or more brands. In this situation the individual grower may have some involvement in the winemaking process. *RC (meaning ''Récoltant-Coopérateur'') is a wine sourced from a single grower but made entirely for him by a co-operative winemaking facility. While the wine is sold under the grower's own brand, he will often have had very little if any involvement in the winemaking process. *SR (meaning ''Société de Récoltants'') is a registered firm set up by two or more growers who share the same winery which they use to make wine to sell under their own label. This designation differs from a CM in that the growers almost always have significant involvement in the winemaking process.

References

{{wines Wine terminology Champagne (wine)