This year marks the 120th anniversary of this wonderful wine partnership, so it’s a good time to remind ourselves of how it all began and why our companies continue to thrive, prosper and grow together so well.
For a start, we have a lot in common. We could both be described as unusual, even unique in our respective fields and we share a certain independence of spirit and an obsession with quality. We also believe that suppliers, whether grape growers or winemakers, are indistinguishable from customers and we care passionately about both. We've supported each other through wars, economic upheaval and, most recently, a pandemic. But we’ve also been there to celebrate together as well. Where there are bubbles to be poured and special milestones to celebrate, we can always rely on our friends. Great supporters of our tastings and events, Gratien never hesitate to show up to pour a dash of pride and friendship into every member’s glass.
'I don't think there is another Champagne house quite like Gratien where relationships are so personal and so close. It makes it perfect for an importer like The Society'.
Retired buyer Marcel Orford-Williams, who bought Champagne for The Society for more than two decades, said, 'I don't think there is another Champagne house quite like Gratien where relationships are so personal and so close. It makes it perfect for an importer like The Society'. For their part, Gratien have always said that we are like a ‘business family’ to them. As the baton is passed from one generation to the next, the team at Gratien are reminded ‘to think of The Wine Society not as a customer, but as a friend!’ and not to worry about what our buyers are scribbling in their notebooks when tasting… ‘just give them the best!’
The continuity of craftmanship
In an industry where it's all too easy to slap a house label on a mass-produced fizz, The Society's remains the handcrafted Champagne it has always been: a blend of all three classic grapes with the emphasis on chardonnay, and equal parts pinot noir and pinot meunier, with a generous dollop of older reserve wines to maintain the balance and finesse that hits the spot, year-in, year-out.
Chef de cave Nicolas Jaeger, the fourth generation of his family to look after the winemaking in Champagne, let us into a secret about just one of the reasons our Society’s Champagne Brut is so special. He revealed the importance of ageing the reserve wine that is used to top up the bottles of non-vintage Champagne after disgorgement (when the trapped yeast cells are released from the bottles). A minor aspect of Champagne production you might think, but devil and deliciousness are in such details. So, how old are the reserve wines that go into our own Champagne? Nicolas told us that the reserve wines really are a ‘hidden treasure’ one that his father Jean-Pierre started laying down for us in 1990.
The story of the founder Alfred Gratien
The world has altered beyond recognition since Alfred Gratien, an ambitious 23-year-old, established his sparkling wine business in 1864, originally in the hewn out tuffeau cellars of Saumur in the Loire, then later that same year, in Epernay. That his legacy is unchanged owes much to an extraordinary family of cellarmasters at the heart of the winemaking at Champagne Alfred Gratien and the quality-focused team in Saumur, who make wines with just as much care and attention as their partners in Epernay. It is fairly safe to say that our range of Loire sparklers are up there with the best and that our Society’s Champagne is one of the few still made as it was over 100 years ago.
Gratien Collection
Shop the wines
Half bottle of The Society's Champagne Brut NV
Half bottle of The Society's Saumur Brut NV
The Society's Champagne Demi-Sec NV
Magnum of The Society's Celebration Crémant de Loire 2018
The Society's Champagne Rosé Brut NV
The Society's Saumur Rosé Brut NV
Champagne Alfred Gratien Clos le Village Cumières 2018
Salmanazar of The Society's Champagne Brut NV
Alfred Gratien Blanc de Noirs 2016
Magnum of The Society's Champagne Brut NV
Attention to detail
Nicolas is the great-grandson of founding father Gaston, who started making the wine for Gratien in 1905. Like his ancestors, Nicolas has learnt his craft from his father, serving a 17-year apprenticeship working at his side before taking over the reins in 2007. Nicolas, rather modestly given the number of winemaking awards he has won, says, 'I feel confident in what I am doing as I am simply repeating the techniques I have been shown by my father and his father before him.'
So, what are the techniques that Nicolas has inherited and honed? It starts with the raw materials – Gratien own only a few hectares of vines (though they have bought more recently) so the majority of their grapes are sourced from a select group of dedicated growers. These are all in premier or grand cru vineyards and the relationships between winemaker and grower also extends back over generations.
Each parcel is vinified and labelled separately before blending. Only the cuvée, or first and purest pressing of juice, goes into the 1,000-plus French oak barrels that once held white Burgundy. 100% of the wine is fermented in oak, an unusual approach in Champagne, with Krug the only other house that does this, but it's precisely the slow and steady ingress of oxygen that creates the subtle richness on the palate we've come to expect.
Current Champagne buyer Sarah Knowles MW tells us how being able to taste the component parts of the wine before blending is fascinating – it’s also something appreciated by the grape growers, who are invited each January to come and taste the wines from their vineyards. In fact, Gratien were even asked to join the association of wine growers Les Artisans de Champagne, such is the respect for the way they make their wine.
Equally atypical is the avoidance of malolactic fermentation, the acidity-buster of choice that makes Champagne drinkable and saleable much sooner in its evolution. That would please most finance teams but Gratien's has learned the value of patience. The Society's Champagne is matured for more than three times the minimum ageing period required by the appellation – at least 48 months, in a cool, dark dormitory carved out of the region's famous chalk.
Perhaps the most eloquent expression of this patience, craftmanship and extraordinary relationship is to be found in the glass. So, If you haven't yet sampled the benefits of long-term friendship, we urge you to let The Society's Champagne and the fine fizz from their Loire sibling do the talking.
