The Champagne region is NE of Paris lying between the 49th and 50th parallels. I note this because the vine, historically was not thought to survive beyond the 50th parallel. That this very northerly region could reasonably be expected to produce good wine let alone great wine is a tribute to the Champenois: their grit, determination, resourcefulness and resolve.

The above qualities are almost always essential as mother nature rarely deals a favorable hand to the champagne producers. The 2024 growing season was no exception. Global warming has seen the mean temperature rise 2 degrees in the last 30 years and that has contributed to the weather calamities regularly visited on the region. When warm weather arrives early in mid-March, bud break can occur. At that early growth stage future grape clusters are exposed to a return of seasonably cold weather or worse, frost that will kill off the buds. That was the case in '24. Hail followed reducing yields further though the losses were much greater in the Aube. Persistent rain then arrived causing widespread downy mildew necessitating multiple copper based applications in the vineyards. Michel Drappier of the eponymous champagne house in Urville advised they treated their vineyards more than 20 times yet still suffered large production losses. While small producers suffered major setbacks the sentiment most often expressed by those I met with was optimism for a small but good quality crop which many likened to the '21 vintage that was similarly bedeviled. In the face of a global slowdown the CIVC set the '24 vintage yield at 10,000 KG/HA which is down from the previous year.