Heavyweights of the Vine: Champagne’s Record-Breaking 2023 Vintage
Anticipating next week’s harvest, Champagne winemakers are buzzing about an unparalleled vintage featuring the heaviest grape bunches ever documented.
During a Tuesday visit to the Champagne region, I sensed something exceptional as I drove from Reims to Louvois to tour Champagne Laurent-Perrier. The vineyards were laden with enormous bunches of grapes, each vine supporting a profusion of full, deeply-hued berries—especially true for the Pinot Noir in the Montagne de Reims sub-region.
Upon arriving at Laurent-Perrier, Lucie Pereyre de Nonancourt, fourth-generation steward of the prestigious Champagne house, confirmed my suspicions. “This year’s grape bunches are exceptionally weighty, surpassing all typical standards. The berries are juicy, and the yields are high,” she noted.
Later, Maximilien Bernardeau, Laurent-Perrier’s new cellar master, echoed this sentiment. “We’re seeing the heaviest grapes ever in Champagne, exceeding 220 grams per bunch,” he stated. He added that meticulous records kept by the Comité Champagne corroborate that this year sets a new benchmark for grape weight.
Further conversations with other industry experts, such as Bollinger’s cellar master Denis Bunner and Champagne Gosset’s Odilon de Varine, reinforced that 2023 is indeed a record-breaking year for Champagne.
The abundance of large berries is primarily attributed to recent rainfall, following a fruitful spring. “A favorable flowering season and a lack of water stress are key factors behind this year’s oversized berries,” Bunner elaborated.
Interestingly, when regional yields were projected by the Comité Champagne in July, no one anticipated such an abundant crop. “We expected smaller grapes. Clearly, all models were off this year,” said Bunner, attributing the unexpected yield to wet weather that began on August 1st.
