Bubbly Bounty

Of all the demographics - or even "groups of people" - likely to know what the term "Growers' Champagne" means, the readers of this blog are likely to have the highest percentage of savants. Nonetheless, for the benefit of the few, put simply the term applies to bubbly made by small, individual producers making their own wine from their own grapes (instead of selling their fruit or juice to the Grandes Marques or the Co-operatives). The products of their growing numbers – there are now 2,000 or more of them - have mainly been appreciated by the French up to now but things are changing. Many a posh wine merchant has had their handful of favourites for ages and the more quality-minded supermarkets have been selling growers' Champagnes for a few years, although needs must that the production has to be on a fairly large scale to make sense for large retailers.

Now, the problem with Champagne is, has been and always will be the thorny question of value. Brits spent an average of around £18 on each of the 36 million bottles imported in 2009 (we're the biggest market by miles so take a bow), much of it quite dull stuff, and the big question is; is it really worth it? It's certainly more expensive to produce than other wines - the endless blending process, all that remuage (aka "riddling" - the regular turning of the bottles to settle the sediment from the secondary fermentation into the neck), the long storage time, the expensive and frequently fatuous advertising and sponsorship, the private jets – it all adds up.

Now a new enterprise, French Bubbles, has had the sensible idea of forming an entente cordiale between a handful of family growers and offering their bubbly bounty online. These farmers have no business with all that hoop-la and the wines that I tasted the other day from Lacroix, Furdyna, Colin, Waris-Larmandier and Pertois-Moriset give the concept of good-value fizz the chance to speak for itself. The latter's Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru is, at £26.95 (plus P&P for orders of less than a case), one of the best-value Champagnes I've had this year. All offer excellent quality throughout a range of styles and at prices starting from less than twenty quid.