You don’t need to ever convince me to drink champagne. But if there’s one time when the rest of the world also comes aboard the bubbly boat, it’s the week of New Year’s Eve. One champagne house is trying to change how the world consumes champagne on a regular basis. Champagne Telmont, a house that dates back to 1912, is in the process of fully converting their agricultural processes to be 100 percent certified organic. “It’s a big, big bold commitment,” says Ludovic du Plessis, president of Telmont Champagne. For champagne to be certified organic, the grapes must be harvested without the use of any forms of herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, an extremely strict standard in the wine world. In general, du Plessis says that the champagne industry is largely a sustainable one. But only three percent of the world’s supply of champagne is certified organic.
That is largely due in part because it is not cheap nor easy. The process for becoming certified organic doesn’t happen overnight. It was a decade-long process for Telmont, who received its first certification for certain sections of the house’s vineyard in 2017. Currently, 49 percent of Telmont’s total cultivated areas, which is made up of nearly 200 acres, are certified organic or are currently in conversion. The entire house does not anticipate being able to receive organic certification until 2025.
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