These Nearly Extinct Grapes Are Quietly Reshaping Champagne

Meet the winemakers preserving Champagne's rare grape varieties.

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier, the holy trinity of Champagne, are familiar sights in the region’s great cuvées. Together, they account for the majority of Champagnes you'll encounter, in the upwards of 33,000 hectares (nearly 82,000 acres) across the iconic sparkling wine region. For context, that’s over 99% of all Champagne’s vines. 

Anyone would be forgiven for thinking these noble varieties represent the totality of the iconic appellation’s grape varieties. But throughout the region lie parcels of Champagne’s ancient varieties, historic grapes that seldom appear in modern cuvées: Arbane, Petit Meslier, Blanc Vrai (aka Pinot Blanc), and Fromenteau (the ever-popular Pinot Gris).

Why Champagne’s heritage grapes disappeared

Varieties like Pinot Gris once dominated the vineyards. Or they did until the 1880s when the phylloxera pest invaded the region and destroyed many of the region’s vineyards. When it was time to replant, growers turned from the old to embrace the new. The once-prolific grapes are now represented by a handful of hectares, hovering around a scant 0.4% of Champagne’s land under vine. 

Hugo Drappier, 8th generation winemaker at Champagne Drappier, says there are many reasons why these grapes weren’t replanted. “For each grape, it’s different,” he says. “For Arbane, there is a problem of production.” Low yields and late maturation make Arbane a tricky one in Champagne. “With the Champenois climate, getting ripe fruit from Arbane was quite tough.”

In the post-phylloxera landscape, growers opted for the trio we see today. More consistent crops, greater disease resistance, and being all-around easier to grow make them an attractive option. 

“I think it also was a question of politics before the First World War when the Champagne appellation was being created,” says Drappier. “They had to talk about the area and the quality of the wine and grapes. They wanted to simplify and have something much more standard [such as] Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which are noble grapes.” 

In the years that followed, plantings dwindled and knowledge was lost.

The winemakers preserving Champagne's rare grape varieties

Among Champagne’s many maisons, a few existing producers still craft wines from these half-forgotten grapes, growers who recognize the importance of preserving the ancient varieties for the future. “These old varieties are part of the Champagne patrimoine,” says Aurélien Laherte, 5th generation winemaker at Champagne Laherte Frères.

But plantings remain small. When they do appear, it’s usually as part of a blend. In many cases, there simply isn’t enough of any one varietal to vinify alone, although there are some notable exceptions.

At Champagne Drappier, the grapes have always been present in the family’s vineyards. The estate has a few hectares each of Arbane, Petit Meslier, and Pinot Blanc, plus one hectare of Pinot Gris, and half a hectare of Voltis, a recent addition to Champagne. We can expect to see this downy and powdery, mildew-resistant hybrid in blends in about five years. Drappier is the first maison to grow all approved Champenois grapes.

"“Part of planting those grapes was being able to work with the whole palette we can have in Champagne.”"

Hugo Drappier, 8th generation winemaker

Among the growers, there’s a real excitement. Both Drappier and Laherte emphasize the importance of diversity and its potential for complex cuvées. 

“Part of planting those grapes was being able to work with the whole palette we can have in Champagne,” says Drappier. “I really love to play with these grapes. We’re still learning a lot in the vinification because they disappeared for almost two generations. So we’re relearning how to farm it, relearning how to make it, and of course, the climate has changed many things.”

Laherte notes there’s ample potential. He lists winemakers like Etienne Calsac, Olivier Horiot, Aurélien Lurquin, Emilien Feneuil, Pascal Agrapart, and Jean-Baptiste Geoffrey, fellow members of this new generation working to preserve historic varieties and incorporate them in their wines. “We have to explore, we have to experiment,” he says. 

If this is anything to go by, the future of Champagne’s grape patrimoine couldn’t be in safer hands.

Champagne’s heritage grape varieties

Petit Meslier

Descended from Chardonnay, Petit Meslier is a cross between Gouais Blanc and Savagnin. Noted for its high acidity and apple, pear, and citrus notes layered over white floral aromas and flavors, Drappier likens its profile to Sauvignon Blanc.

With the rise of warmer vintages, the spectre of climate change looms large in the minds of winemakers worldwide. Petit Meslier’s ability to retain acidity even in hotter years gives it real potential for a greater revival across the appellation. “Petit Meslier is, for me, a variety that's super interesting in terms of aromatic diversity, keeping the freshness, the acidity,” says Laherte. It’s a very energetic wine. Not just a lot of simple acidity but super crispy with a lot of salinity and freshness.”

Arbane

Precious little Arbane grows in Champagne, where it once dotted the bucolic hillsides of the Aube. It’s the rarest of the four, flirting with extinction in the region for decades until Michel Drappier replanted a parcel about 25 years ago. Despite the tiny plantings, an increasing number of grower-producers feature Arbane in blends. Then there’s Champagne Gruet’s solo Arbane Champagne. Drappier entered the fray with their 2022 vintage, marking the inaugural year of 100% Arbane Champagne in honor of Drappier’s niece.

“The Arbane is very interesting for me,” says Drappier. “The leaf is very small. It’s not too sensitive to disease, which is quite interesting at the moment against mildew. It brings acidity. The ripeness is quite late, but it tends to be earlier with global warming.” 

In the glass, expect quince, pear, citrus, and a hint of peach mingling with white and yellow flowers.

Blanc Vrai (Pinot Blanc)

Pinot Blanc is a genetic mutation of Champagne's most planted grape—Pinot Noir loves nothing more than to mutate. In the past, the grape was often mistaken for Chardonnay, which has proved handy for Blanc Vrai's survival. Citrus, orchard fruits and stone fruits dominate the Blanc Vrai profile.

Fromenteau (Pinot Gris)

This pink-skinned variety is yet another clone of Pinot Noir. While not rare on the global stage, Pinot Gris’ presence in Champagne has dipped since its pre-phylloxera heyday. “Pinot Gris is not very Champenois in taste,” says Drappier, touching on the grape’s low acidity, fuller body, and capacity for ripe flavors and higher sugar levels — the exact opposite of what winemakers in the region strive for. “But in our soil, in our climate, it feels quite Champenois.”

Rare grape Champagne bottles to try

Champagne Drappier, Trop M'en Faut NV

What started as an experiment by Drappier turned out to be something truly special. “We work with the Pinot Gris as Champagne and also a Côteaux Champenois,” he says. “We made exactly the same version, bottled the same day, same vinification. Of course, same parcel. One the Champenois version, one the Côteaux Champenois version without dosage, just to see the difference, and the impact of the bubbles, what kind of profile it brings. It’s two totally different products, even though it’s the same base wine.”

The certified organic sparkling version is all baked apple, pear, yellow plums, honeysuckle, pastry dough, and lightly toasted hazelnuts.

Champagne Drappier, Quattuor

At the start, Drappier’s father, Michel, wanted to make a blanc des blancs without Chardonnay. “But the high proportions of Petit Meslier overtook the rest of the blend,” he says. “It’s the only grape we have where the aromatics are so strong.” Ultimately, Michel added Chardonnay to the certified organic blend, and Quattuor was born.

An equal blend of Arbane, Petit Meslier, Blanc Vrai, and Chardonnay, Quattuor unfolds with grapefruit, Honeycrisp apple, green fig, white peach, and white flowers. Beautiful, focused minerality, the Arbane brings loads of vibrant acidity while the Chardonnay finesses the wine.

Champagne Laherte Frères, Les 7 NV

Arguably one of the most unique wines in all of Champagne. This solera-aged cuvée is crafted from each of the region’s classic grape varieties, which are grown together as a field blend. “This is why for Les 7, we do a perpetual reserve. It’s the 2005 to harvest 2021,” says Laherte.

Brilliantly complex, Les 7 leads with citrus, pear, and quince mingled with white and yellow florals over richer notes of lightly toasted nuts, biscuit, and wonderful salinity. This bottling is organically and biodynamically farmed.

Champagne Moutard, Cuvée des Six Cépages Brut 2012

A masterclass from one of the standout vintages of the century. Yellow apples, mirabelle plum, apricot, a little leesy, a touch of almond, pastry, and toast. If you don’t drink this up right away, this one will continue to age.

Champagne Gruet, Arbane Brut NV

Despite the low number of vines and even lower yield, Gruet has produced a gorgeous mono-varietal Champagne from Arbane. It opens with bright green apple, Bosc pear, lemon zest, and delicate elderflower, followed by a tactile minerality. Bone dry, elegant, and one to try for anyone looking for something different.

Champagne Andre Bergere, Petit Meslier Brut Nature 2020

With its showy aromatics, it's easy to see why some growers are so captivated by Petit Meslier. It’s easily the boldest of Champagne’s bunch. Andre Bergere’s take features crisp orchard fruit, orange peel, and stone fruits with an underlying note of passion fruit and white flowers.

Champagne Gruet, Pinot Blanc

Pinot Blanc is perhaps the least expressive of the Champagne grapes, but you wouldn't know it sipping on Gruet’s ultra-fresh example. Layers of pear, lemon peel, yellow plum, white nectarine, and citrus blossoms.