YEARS of marketing Champagne as a luxury accessory have transformed the way we think about bubbly. Hardly anyone thinks about Champagne as they do about other wines. It’s associated with brands, not chateaux or grapes, and yet it seems to come from no place in particular. A Bordeaux comes from the Médoc, Pauillac, Margaux, St-Emilion, Pomerol, and so on. But can you name a single Champagne terroir? The distinctions of terroir make artisanal Champagnes more idiosyncratic than those from the big houses. As one grower-producer puts it, “Champagne used to be singular, now it’s plural, with many winemakers, villages and styles.”
