The Philosophy Of Champagne

Champagne is a drink that even if you don’t enjoy the taste of it, you’ll still, in some way, want to be drinking it.

The reason behind that can be summed up in one simple word, ‘image’, Champagne Houses, in particular, have spent a fortune building up an image in the public eye, that the fizzy stuff within a bottle, sealed with a cork, is a symbol of statues, a symbol of money, wealth, love, sex, passion, success, it shouts out to the world that ‘I have money’, ‘I enjoy the finer things in life’ and ‘I am successful’, but let’s ask the question, ‘does it matter if you can buy a bottle of Tesco’s own brand of Champagne for £14 over a bottle of Moët & Chandon for £44, does the philosophy remains the same?

Branding matters, you’ll get a lot more excited opening a bottle of Moët & Chandon than you would Tesco’s own brand, despite the fact that the quality of experience will likely be the same, because although both a Champagne, Moët & Chandon has the name, the branding, the history, and the image, whereas Tesco’s own brand is the cheapest Champagne you can buy in store, it has a supermarket’s name on the label, and although trusted by yourself, is not associated with luxury, simply groceries, and it doesn’t fill you with the same confidence and excitement putting the bottle in your trolley.

But let’s remove the supermarket Champagnes from the equation, and take for example a bottle of Moët & Chandon and compare it with a bottle of Champagne Roger Constant Lemaire (RCL). In this situation, both are a Champagne brand, Moët & Chandon has the name, the branding, the history, and the image, whereas Champagne Roger Constant Lemaire, is unknown to the wide population of UK Champagne drinkers, it still has a history, it still has great branding and a good name, it just doesn’t have millions of pounds to spend on marketing, it’s not found on the shelves of supermarkets, and it’s flavour is more unique, rather than Moët & Chandon Champagne, which is created to appeal to the mass amount of drinking palates as possible.

That’s why Moët & Chandon would still be more desired to drink for the terms of ‘image’, even when you include the fact that it’s harder to obtain a bottle of RCL in the UK, whereas anyone could pick up a bottle of Moët.

The perception for many would be the following, big brand names, most of those found in supermarkets, are for the celebratory moments in life, the times when you spray Champagne from the bottle like F1 Drivers or Footballers, and the unknown brands, the ‘Grower Champagnes’ are a little boring, and often slightly more expensive, so why should someone pay more for a label they don’t know, a taste they’ve never tried or a brand they can’t brag about, if no one knows the name of the Champagne house, no one’s going to care whether you drank it or not.

The Grower Champagnes in my mind are for those who wish to delve deeper into the world of Champagne, to discover what lies behind the supermarket shelves, taste the hard work that family winemakers put into crafting a unique blend and be willing to learn about the vast history of local families who have made making Champagne a family tradition. It’s for those who have a learning palate.

One of the biggest draws for people wanting to enjoy Champagne is without a doubt, the bottle and cork design, when popping the cork it doesn’t matter what’s inside, the magic is always there, but you’ll find it more magical for special moments, letting the cork fly or delivering into some truly desired vintages.