What do we know about the Cooperative? To some people, they believe it is where grapes are gathered en mass and champagne comes out at the other end. This is a great misconception as the Cooperatives are essentially a home for hundreds if not thousands of growers that do not have access to wine-making facilities and their plots are too small to warrant this. The result? It becomes a library of plots across all areas of champagne. Some refer to it as a patchwork or ‘quilt’ of plots woven together by the wine-making teams. They hand select the best quality parcels for their own labels and the grower also receives a portion of his grapes back as finished bottles of champagne with their desired label. This month looks at Palmer & Co., which are truly crafting excellent examples across all categories and focus on large format bottles. Further South in the Aube Valley, Devaux are Pinot Noir specialists so if you like bigger, more fuller-bodied styled champagnes like Bollinger or Philipponnat, you will like Devaux.
Watch this episode to see the review on these wines.