Benoit Lahaye - Bouzy, France

Photo by our Alex Fortson @ftnwcreative during our last visit to Champagne in May 2022.

Calling Champagne's Bluff

(our original article - updated.)
The “industry” standard for Champagne had long been sameness. The grassroots movement is terroir. The question belongs to the consumer: Do high standards and quality even matter?

The seven of us at E&R love Champagne. We love it in a way that makes us want to dig past its dusty surface deep into its porous white chalk. I don't remember how it all started, our Champagne obsession, but I can think back to a time when any prospect of drinking nearly any Champagne was an event glorious enough to clear the schedule book and make way for the bubbles. It’s this way for many people whose lives are deeply entrenched in wine – Champagne offers something other wines can’t, and the occasion to experience it (and drink it without judgment) is easily welcomed. What the Champagne is seems to matter very little, however. It’s Champagne, it tastes good, end of story. It’s one of the few wines that, as entire category, is given a green light by drinkers simply if it does what it’s supposed to do – sparkle.

I recall a bubble-obsessed friend also in the wine biz once saying, "I never want to become jaded when it comes to Champagne." What she meant was bubbles made her happy and she could turn off her “work palate” to enjoy a glass of Champagne. It’s like anything though – the more you read, think, do, taste, experience, drink, eat, etc, the more you have to draw from; old doors close and new ones open.

Our thoughts on Champagne have shifted over the years as we’ve come to realize that all bubbles are not created equal, nor do they all taste good. Our sales reps might think we’re cynical when they present us with eight different Champagnes and we’re apathetic to them all, but if we are jaded, it’s only because we are excited by the wines that are better. In a sense, it’s our job to become “jaded”; but when we are with a winemaker in his cellar in Piedmont, or out in the vineyards with a grower in Champagne, or in the shop tasting our 80th wine of the week, we don’t see it that way. Those eight wines might satisfy the majority of mouths they cross, but it doesn’t mean they’re good. Our goal is to sift through the mundane and uncover what’s good, and the same rules apply to Champagne as for all other wines. If the option is there, the authentic little pizza joint in Naples (or its cousin in America) always beats Pizza Hut. With wine, our (E&R’s) duty is to make the better option available.

In Champagne (The Place), Champagne (The Wine) is an industry. Easily obtaining over $40 for its lowest-end product, Champagne has managed to fool its own customer into thinking its sleekly packaged image is based on the quality of what’s inside. With prestige and sophistication built into its name, the base-level impression of Champagne, any Champagne, is well beyond the norm. The illustrious packaging, the pop of the cork, the hiss of the bubbles, its glistening bead in the beautiful glass designed especially for the monumental occasion to experience such a nostalgic beverage – it’s all so exciting that Champagne has managed to elude the debate on quality standards that all other fine wine-producing regions of the world are held to. It is the only region in France of its kind: where big brands dominate the market with homogenized cuvées priced beyond the quality of what’s inside. This model has worked for over one hundred years, but only because there is not an equivalent alternative. Due to the unique combination of soil, latitude, geography, geology and the marginal climate that often feels like a curse, there simply is nothing to rival its chiseled intensity and beguiling finesse…so people pay the going rate to experience its magic, without regard to the quality.

Indeed, even the most experienced wine tasters struggle to distinguish a well-made, distinctive terroir-driven Champagne vs the mainstream bottlings we see all over the place (well, most places...), but for those who make the leap, the enjoyment is multiplied. On the fringes of the looming commercial enterprise that suffocates the region’s unique patchwork of chalk, clay and ancient seashells is an exciting counter culture of passionate growers making invigorating wine. Our love for Champagne (and wine in general) has led us down this path. We’ve called Champagne’s bluff and turned our backs on its sea of lowest common denominator wines produced in numbers mostly big, but also small. Call us jaded, sure – we’re weary of amorphous wines that we’re expected to prize simply because their labels say “Champagne”. We’ve closed doors willingly, and the ones we’ve opened and invited you to pass through with us over these past few years (Rodez, Bérèche, Vouette, Prévost, Lassaigne, Bouchard, etc...) have steered us to places far more rewarding.

A "New" Voice

Our on-the-ground Champagne discovery began about five years ago. We had been there a number of times before, but this time our goals and perceptions were different. We were working with several terrific grower Champagnes from the thoughtfully selected portfolios of America’s and Oregon’s finest importers, but we knew there must be other hardworking growers out there whose wines had not reached our shores. We visited some of the classic producers (big houses and small growers) as well as young stars on the rise. The two groups were not even talking about the same things. Something was afoot in Champagne that was hardly perceptible on the surface and we were driven to find out more about these underground stirrings.

Among the stale confines of a region where ideological progress is stunted by its own commercial success, we heard a voice desperate for change. It’s the voice of a small group, the size of a single star in an infinite black sky, with enough dynamic energy to shoot through a black hole and emerge brighter than billions of other stars in its universe. Led by inspired figures such as Anselme Selosse and Francis Egly, this small group has punched a fist through a 150 year-old cement cube that has outlined, defined and standardized the wines of Champagne. The lack of regulation that allowed the region to become boxed in by mediocrity is slowly being turned on its head by those that found their way out. Among them, is a grower named Benoit Lahaye of Bouzy.

Introducing Champagne Grower: Benoit Lahaye

We always do a ton of research when we set out to find potential new producers for our "Almost Direct Imports" program. Before we set foot on a plane, our itinerary is booked, contacts have been made and appointments have been confirmed. It means there are rarely any shockingly bad wines we encounter on our travels. The question is less, "is it good?" than, "is it good enough?"

When I arranged my first visit with Lahaye, there was not much information to be found about him in English, but I knew enough to make sure it happened. Plus, I had a good hunch. I was already six days into my Champagne travel by the time I reached his place in Bouzy, and I had already had six days packed with great visits. Maybe, just by sheer odds, it was time for a let-down?

Benoit welcomed us (Peter Liem of ChampagneGuide.net was traveling with me that day) into his tasting room/office in the lower level of his home, where old vineyard tools adorned the walls. He had a quiet but warm demeanor and his eyes smiled when he explained how he had spent the morning in the vines with his horse. I reflected on our morning visit with Marie-Noël Ledru in Ambonnay while imagining Benoit in the crisp and peaceful morning sun with his horse and thought to myself, “yes, it was a lovely morning in Champagne”. As it turned out, the day was about to get better...

We sat at the wooden table in the cozy sunlit room and Benoit provided some details about his five-hectare estate. When he took over the family domaine in 1993, it was clear that things would be different. For better or for worse, post WWII technology changed the way vineyards were worked and wines were made all across France. Herbicides and pesticides were introduced as a more effective and efficient way to farm, and in Champagne the new “advancements” were adopted far and wide. Farming with chemicals was faster, more cost effective and involved less manual labor. For a region where there is a clear distinction between who is growing the grapes and who is making the wine, it was especially attractive. The challenges of Champagne’s cold and damp northerly climate are easier to manage with chemicals, and since growers are paid by the weight of the fruit as opposed to the quality, it’s perceived as much more valuable to have a good size yield than to be concerned with it one that’s too large. Benoit, however, knew good wine and he knew that it wasn’t made like this.

Inspired by other vignerons outside of Champagne, Benoit began “working the soils” (aka, ditched the chemicals) in 1994, and by 1996 he was implementing organic viticulture and experimenting with biodynamic techniques. It was in 1996 that he began to bottle wines under his own name. All of the decisions he has made about the way he works are based on the wine and the results. He says that caring for the soil organically has allowed for greater maturity in the grapes (always a struggle in Champagne) without compromising acidity. It takes time for the vines to adjust, he says – essentially, come back to life – but when it happens, the results are reflected in the wines.

Benoit's hard work in the vineyard pays off in the cellar, which means it's easier for him to make his wine organically (without filtration, industrial yeasts, enzymes and little to no sulfur). “When you work organic it’s not difficult to make the wine,” he says, “but in the vineyard it’s very difficult.” Even though he’s been fully organic since 2000, it was not until 2007 that he obtained organic certification, and then biodynamic certification in 2010. But it’s the work that is important to him, not the image behind the philosophy. He dislikes extremist rhetoric sometimes tied to organics and biodynamics and he is not interested in selling a philosophy. For him, it’s all about the wine. For this reason, he has elected not to advertise the certifications on his bottles (at the time of my first visit his labels did not indicate any certifications, but the most recent bottle I purchased in France mentioned the certifying bodies in discrete small black print on the back of the label). Further confirming his dedication to his vines, in 2010 Benoit began working half of his estate with his horse, Tamise. He explained that the tractor compacts the soil too much and the horse is an important contribution to the biodiversity and overall life/energy of the soil. Eventually, he wants to use Tamise instead of the tractor in all of his vineyards.

A view across some of Benoit’s holdings in Bouzy.

I liked Benoit. He maintained a gentle demeanor throughout the conversation, which was much more coaxed by our questions than by him fulfilling any sort of need to be heard. His passion was conveyed when he spoke, not through dramatic intonation or bombastic language, but with an introverted confidence that communicated that this was his life. It was natural, unforced and he had nothing to prove. This left me with a good feeling about the wines I was about to taste, but I was careful not to get carried away by expectations.

When tasting a set of wines for the first time, the first wine always sets the tone. It is also typically the least flashy and/or expensive. When Benoit poured the first wine, I instantly knew that I was riding along on one of those roads less traveled but far more rewarding. If ever a wine conveyed energy, tension, vitality, LIFE, this was it. As we tasted along, a theme emerged. I kept commenting in my notes about the “energy” and “balance” of the wines. It wasn’t a matter of one being better than the next; they were all in the realm of brilliance. Each one was an expression of something different, and they all conveyed what they were and where they came from with bracing conviction. They are eloquent and confident wines, and, like Benoit, natural, unforced and with nothing to prove.

I have visited Benoit and his wife Valérie three times since our first meeting and it never ceases to amaze me how great the wines are. Each time I have met with him he has either just come from the vineyard or is working with something at the cellar or with his horse. It's not so much of a surprise as it is a confirmation, as Benoit is undoubtedly one of the most committed vignerons I have met, not only in Champagne, but anywhere. There is an unspoken (and spoken) respect for him when his name comes up with other highly regarded Champagne growers. He is friendly and congenial, and everyone who knows him and/or his wine knows he's the real deal. He is not an "all-talk" kind of guy; if he was, his wines would be different. As it is, he does the work and his wines do the talking. What they have to say is more than worth listening to; worth it to the Nth degree. (Article - Stephanie Sprinkle)

The Wines of Benoit Lahaye

"With the growing worldwide demand for these wines they can sometimes be a little difficult to find, but they are well worth the search, as Lahaye is rapidly becoming one of the top grower-producers in the Montagne de Reims."
-Peter Liem, ChampagneGuide.net
Location: Bouzy, Montagne de Reims, France (88% Pinot Noir, 12% Chardonnay)
Land under vine: 5 Hectares total -3 hectares in Grand Cru Bouzy, 1 hectare in neighboring Grand Cru Ambonnay, .6 hectare in Tauxières (99% rated Premier Cru village bordering Bouzy), and a tiny parcel, .2 hectare, of old vine Chardonnay in Voipreux (next to Vertus in the Côte des Blancs).
Varieties Planted: Approximately 90% Pinot noir and 10% Chardonnay
Annual Production: 4,000 cases (as compared to Moët's 2 million or Bollinger's relatively small 200,000)

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