Press Release: Claude Giraud asks Winemakers and Champagne Houses to take action

Champagne Henri Giraud presented today the results of a quarter of century of research on the winemaking of fine wines in oak barrels. With nearly 200 guests from 16 countries, Claude Giraud held an inspiring speech.

Claude Giraud “ There are no great wines without great forest. Argonne has vinified and matured great wines of Champagne during their epic. Its siliceous soil, so particular, gives to its oak trees a more delicate and thinner texture than the Tronçais. Since the 17th century, our forest has unquestionably contributed to the excellence aura of the great wines of Champagne. At the beginning of XXth century, there were up to 180 coopers in Florent en Argonne; but at the end of 1950, the fine and white foam became the international symbol of Peace, Liberty and Parties. The expansion preferred steel and stainless steel vats and the thankless Champenois abandoned their forest and changed the thread of History.”
“ Nowadays, Champagne has taken the decision to turn back to excellence, to its growth, so casks are back! It is a good thing….but many wine storehouses are composed of seasoned casks coming from some Châteaux of Bordeaux to be fashionable.”

“ Thus, I want to make a call to growers and to bigger brands: Champagne does not need any make-up from Bordeaux or other regions. This is a sacrilege. Aiming back excellence is a mean to resume the private links between the growths of champagne and Argonne. This fantastic forest has given birth to our wines and has been protective to us. To succeed in reaching excellence in Champagne, we have to enter in the heart of History. Let’s invest in the patrimony of Argonne Forest ! ”
“ In partnership with the National Forest Office, which pioneer in sustainable development has been looking after and has guaranteed our patrimony since XIVth century, we are planting today, as a symbol, a new Giraud oak. It will carry the message and will become for the next centuries, one of those little white stones on which the fine thread of history of the great wines of champagne will clutch hold of.”

For further information please contact VitaBella / 0033.1.45.65.39.72

Press release from www.vitabella.fr