The Méthode Champenoise Is A Chaptalization

Emmanuel Lassaigne on the champagne method - and the limits of natural wine discourse in Champagne.

Emmanuel Lassaigne in his cellar, October 2019. Photo: Jade Ambre.

I go back a ways with Montgueux virtuoso Emmanuel Lassaigne, whose incisive, undosed champagnes I discovered shortly after moving to Paris in 2009. In the early 2010s, seeking to improve the champagne on offer at the fashion shows of the company I worked for at the time, I contacted him.…