Ode to joy: Philipponnat at 500
Philipponnat: 500 Years of History at the Heart of Champagne Yves Tesson and Charles Philipponnat
Published by Terre de Vins Editions 80 pages; $30 / £25 / €25 REVIEWED BY
SIMON FIELD MW C
hampagne Philipponnat has a Janus-like appeal. It is a négociant that behaves like a grower; it
is part of a large group (Lanson BCC, the abbreviation standing for Boizel Chanoine Champagne) that maintains an independent spirit and, prima facie at least, an air of autonomy; and finally it is a house that is famous above all for its Clos des Goisses Cuvée—but it is far from a one-trick pony. The fact that Philipponnat is now an honorary member of the circle hallowed above all others by anglophone markets (the holy trinity of Bollinger, Pol Roger, and Louis Roederer) is largely down to the charisma and chutzpah of one man, Charles Philipponnat, coauthor of this highly readable history of the eponymous house, which in 2022 celebrated its 500th anniversary— a not-insignificant achievement. The cover of this short book, A3
in format, deceives with its playful, almost childish drawings. It has been coauthored by the journalist Yves Tesson, but one does not sense much by way of ghost-writing; on the contrary, one detects the distinctive timbre of Charles’s voice throughout, and that voice is urbane, erudite, and witty. These are good qualities in a book of this kind, all of which, albeit subtly, desist from hagiography and thereby give a very real sense of the quotidian challenges of a medium-sized Champagne house, with environmental and commercial factors spilling out from the historical backdrop. There is no lack of opinion, either, as where Charles cleverly challenges the perception that, almost
as a reflex, equates Champagne with luxury. A thorough and honest description of the modus operandi— in the vineyard and elsewhere—and an analysis of the difficulties equated with a marginal climate, both serve to humanize the product, not with sensational anthropomorphology but rather by means of a gentle portrait of those involved in its creation. The human factor is key and has been enunciated with dignity. That human factor stretches over no
fewer than 16 generations, with nepotism, wars, riots, accusations of collaboration, and bankruptcy all playing their part. The anthropological backdrop has, as its corollary, the evolution of the product itself, and one of the most successful features of the first three scene-setting chapters is the panning in and out of familial focus, the aperture skillfully manipulated to give genuine contextual relevance to this hardy dynastic perennial. “Champagne was born in the high aristocracy under the Regency, in a
time of depravity; it was very expensive and reserved for the libertine elite. [Yet at the same time] it is a wine of the Enlightenment.” If one can understand the concept of enlightened depravity, one should also be able to understand why Charles is keen to move away from it! “Champagne transcends class […]. True luxury is quite simply quality, beautiful things bespoke. I don’t want people to say that Philipponnat is a luxury brand, inaccessible. I want it to be shared.” One may have to await the final chapter for this mission statement, but its message has been threaded, with great dexterity throughout the book.
Le Léon between Aÿ and Dizy The first three chapters outline the struggles encountered by Charles’s forebears, traced, without the faintest whiff of genealogical prestidigitation, back to Avpril Le Philipponnat, a Swiss army captain who was born in around 1490 and who was responsible, in 1522, for the purchase of a vineyard located
THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023 | 53
Photography courtesy of Champagne Philipponnat
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