The eighth (and ninth?) grape varieties of Champagne

General
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I was surprised and interested to learn about the eighth permitted variety that @SamanthaCole-Johnson mentioned in the latest Wine News In 5: Chardonnay Rose. Reason being that this variety didn’t ever come up in conversation with hospitality staff/merchants/tour guides that I spoke to whilst in Champagne, before their pre-harvest holidays in late July/early August.

Conversely, Voltis was often name-dropped as the eighth and newest permitted grape of the AOC, although, having just done some research, can see that it’s on a 10-year probationary trial (since 2022), hence not qualifying as the eighth permanent member in statutory terms. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to appreciate why Chardonnay Rose would slot in without issue.

What I wanted to glean from those more in-the-know is: has the inclusion of Chardonnay Rose come as any kind of surprise to those on the ground, or was this years in the making? And do we have a feel for which sub-regions it might thrive in yet? Will the Côte des Blancs no longer be fully blanc? It’ll be interesting to see how these two varieties - supposedly more resilient to the challenges of climate change - get on in the coming decades, and if they will ever play more than a subservient role in highly revered cuvées.

I look forward to seeing some of you at Caravan in November!

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I haven’t had a chance to ask any producers about Chardonnay Rose, and I guess we will have to wait a few years to actually taste a wine made from the variety - though I am not sure if many will have enough to make a varietal wine, even if they wanted to. According to the technical description in France’s official catalogue of permitted grape varieties, Plantgrape, it ripens a little later than Chardonnay and tends to have slightly higher sugar levels and lower acidity. And according to the same site, in 2018 there was only 0.1 ha planted – though of course that may have increased.

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Thanks for that fact sheet Julia, very interesting. Watch this space I guess. Voltis has a similarly tiny coverage of plantings to my knowledge (6-7 ha by 2024). Using PlantGrape, I noticed Voltis has a truncated ripening period when compared to Chardonnay Rose:

Bud-burst
Chardonnay Rose: 1 day after Chasselas
Voltis: 5 days after Chasselas

Grape Maturity
Chardonnay Rose: 2.5-3 weeks after Chasselas
Voltis: 2 weeks after Chasselas

Once planted in suitable areas in greater amounts, it will be interesting to see how they fare against each other as the region warms, given their differing phenolic-ripening profiles.

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