Drappier makes 'extreme' Champagne using single varietal Pinot Gris

Champagne producer Michel Drappier has made the first vintage of Pinot Gris Champagne at his property in the Aube.

The base wine for the new Champagne comes from the 2015 harvest of Pinot Gris grapes which were planted in 2012 and grown organically. The grapes were fermented by naturally-occurring yeasts to 13.2% alcohol.

Michel expects to release the new cuvée in three to four years, and the addition of Pinot Gris to the Drappier range will mean that the producer makes Champagne using the region’s full seven permitted grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier, Arbane and Pinot Gris (known also as Fromenteau).

He calls it an extreme wine: “The idea is not to try to harvest early to make it elegant and light, because we want to make a cuvée that is rich and fat, a style that existed before so we can revisit the past, and have a glass of Champagne as it would have been in 1865 at the table of Napoleon III.