Dear friends,
Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a chat with my friends Ludo, CEO of Champagne Telmont. At a time that more and more vineyards around Hautvillers, and the rest of Champagne, are being nuked, he brought some much needed hope by talking about regenerative ORGANIC viticulture.
He reminded me of the many (yes there really are quite a few) growers who do cherish their soil and who do want a greener and healthier future. By confirming that Telmont’s external grape suppliers have clung to their organic convictions even in the very complicated 2024 season, he confirmed what the organic conversion chart in my viable alternative post showed. People’s menatalities - in Ludo’s opinion, the new generation - are changing and this is a reason for hope.
Ludovic also confirmed that Champagne Telmont’s ecological commitments have paid off financially: the house has posted double digit year on year sales growth both in 2023 and 2024. This is very important as in both years the appellation saw significant sales losses (about 17% over the 2 years totaling roughly a 55 million bottle sales decline). This, in my opinion, makes a strong economic case for converting to organic growing or at least transitioning to more ecological practices by adhering to legal herbicide and pesticide usage (which unfortunately is not the case for a lot of grape growers today).
Champagne’s economic crisis may also help to speed up Ludo’s vision of “less but better”. Change is never easy, and in the case of champagne it tends to be a slow process, but one needs to remember that change IS a constant in all of our lives, no matter how hard one may try to fight it. Ludovic is convinced that David Chatillon, President of the Union des Maisons de Champagne and one of the Comité Champagne’s co-presidents, is the right man to deliver this change. If he is right, this is another nugget to be grateful for.
So if you need some positive inspiration in today’s complicated economic and geopolitical world, I hope this video will cheer you up and give you some hope. Personally, I left the call on a natural high (THANL YOU LUDO!) and I hope the good vibes in the video will brighten your day too!
Join me next week for another Substack LIVE! In this one, my focus will revert to the US market, and more specifically, how the TRUMP tariffs could change things for consumers and smaller producers.
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