Independent Champagne producers are known as Récoltant Manipulant (RM). These are growers who make and market their own Champagne made from grapes grown on their own land. There are currently around 2015 RM in the Appellation, but their numbers are dwindling each year. So, is all well in Champagne?
Two of the key issues that RM face is that they a) can’t usually afford the export tariffs on Champagne and b) the challenging economic situating at the moment sees pressure on market share as consumers are becoming more cost conscious and some markets are turning to cheaper types of sparkling wine like Prosecco or Cava.
RM actually sell most of their Champagne into the domestic French market, they typically charge around €16.50 for a bottle of ‘house’ Champagne which for many RM leaves them perilously close to the breakeven mark and therefore very susceptible to any economic downturn.
The famous Champagne houses which account for 90% of all Champagne exports typically charge >€30.00 per bottle and have the financial clout to better withstand fluctuations in the economy.
Grandes Marques are the famous Champagne houses that you’ll be very familiar with like Krug or Bollinger. They are classified as Négociant Manipulant (NM). The NM only own 10% of the land in Champagne so they must they buy the majority of their gapes or must (pressed grape juice) from smaller producers, and they pay well to do so. Many successful RM actually supplement their income by selling their second grape press directly to a famous NM Champagne house.
Just before the start of the 2020 harvest – which looked very good, the Champagne committee was trying to agree the yield of grapes that could be picked per hectare. The Grande Marques only wanted to allow 3000kg/ha because they had not met their export targets for selling Champagne due to the Covid crisis and their share prices were under pressure. Independent growers wanted their normal yield of around 12,000kg/ha. The 3000kg/ha limit asked for by the Grandes Marques would push many of the smaller RM producers out of business.
In Champagne, what we see today, is that more and more Récoltant Manipulant are stopping producing their own Champagne and are starting to sell their grapes to a famous Champagne house to ensure a steadier income. For those RM that are doing well and don’t have enough grapes, and want to expand, the law forbids them buying in more than 5% of their yield.
In order to buy in more grapes to meet their demand, these successful RM are having to give up their RM classification so they can buy more grapes. These ‘re-branded’ businesses have to reclassify themselves as Négociant Manipulant which ironically puts them on the same classification as a company like Möet & Chandon.
When you next pick up a bottle of Champagne, have a look at the label and you will see a 2 letter code followed by a number. The letters refer to the type of producer and the number is their registration with the Comité Champagne in Epernay. RM means Récoltant Manipulant and NM means Négociant Manipulant. There are quite a few other classifications and we’ll talk about some of these in other blog posts.
