Interview: Cameron Foster of Deux Six Wines

It’s time for another interview and we are reaching out to Cameron Foster, Managing Director of Deux Six Wines so let’s pop open a bottle of fine Champagne and hear what he has to say to our questions:

 

Q: Please give our readers a quick elevator pitch on yourself and your Champagne journey to date.

I first fell in love with Champagne as a wine around 8 years ago when me and my now wife, Naomi, started to drink Champagne together and it was the first wine we both thoroughly enjoyed together. We started to read and learn about all things Champagne and first started trying out all the Grand Marques, from supermarket shelves to local wine merchants. We then visited the region and fell in love even more. The people, the history, the place and the atmosphere of the region was incredible. I proposed to Naomi in Champagne on the 2nd June 2019 and that is where the name of the business derives from. 2/6 – 2nd June – Deux Six. From driving through vineyards off the beaten track and meeting incredible winemakers, during lockdown we finally started the idea which had been on our mind for years which was to import some of these amazing wines to the UK that we had found on our travels. We were so fed up of seeing the same uninspiring Champagne choices on wine lists, so we wanted to diversify the offer in the UK and introduce some new and unique growers to the market. 3 years later and the portfolio and business has evolved rapidly and we now have the pleasure of visiting and working in the region 5-6 times a year and sharing these wines with establishments from local merchants through to Michelin starred restaurants!

Q: When it comes to Champagne there is so much choice out there, I like to say ‘one could spend a lifetime discovering new Champagnes’. Finding great tasting Champagne at the best prices is an altogether harder task, do you agree?

100 percent! This is the exact reason why we set up the business. We were so uninspired by the same Champagne lists everywhere we would visit. Whether it was a local wine merchant or a restaurant. We knew how many amazing Grower Champagnes were out there but just didn’t have the opportunity to export to the UK market. We also knew that consumers needed educating on the alternative options and working closely with wine buyers and sommeliers we are definitely changing perceptions and buying habits. We focus massively here at Deux Six Wines on making Grower Champagne approachable. This comes down to finding high quality wines at prices that work commercially for the UK trade. Grower Champagne doesn’t have to cost the earth and it doesn’t have to just be Selosse, Agrapart, Larmandier Bernier et al.. We are now regularly seeing clients use our wines as their ‘house’ by the glass Champagnes instead of the Grand Marques due to the quality and value! But it is not an easy task to find the perfect balance. We have tasted over 500 different Champagnes this year and with over 3000 grower producers in the region even we are just scratching the surface!

Q: At Glass of Bubbly, we love to promote sustainability, how about yourselves at Deux Six Wines?

Sustainability is key to everything we do. It is a vital part of our purchasing and we must have a clear commitment from our producers to sustainability. All our producers are either organic, in organic conversion or certified HVE. Sustainability in Champagne is changing and evolving and is certainly better than it was just 10 years ago, but there is no hiding to the fact more work needs to be done. We could talk for weeks on this subject, but we are committed alongside our growers to providing wines that are made as sustainably and naturally as possible from the vineyard to the winery.

Q: Do consumers lose flavour quality when choosing Champagne that is sustainably produced, or are we simply experiencing more natural qualities from the terroir?

Personally I feel the quality can be better in sustainably produced Champagne, but this is mainly down to me wanting to explore and understand the terroir and village or parcels that are in the wine. This style is certainly becoming more popular and consumers want to know where the grapes are from. Ripe fruit and late harvests are something we always look out for when working with a producer, with no chaptalisation and fining key to creating pure terroir driven Champagnes. Give me a Champagne like this any day, you certainly don’t lose quality, if anything it is the opposite. The quality of the farming then impact the quality of the fruit and therefore the juice in the bottle!

 

Feeling thirsty for a glass of Champagne? Why not head over to Deux Six Wines and check out their wide selection of Champagne for sale online today!