Making a Case for Meunier

The English wine industry, once dismissed as a folly of eccentric landowners with more enthusiasm than viticultural sense, has blossomed into a serious player in the global scene. An ambitious new generation of winemakers have awoken from their calcareous bed, and transformed England from a viticultural afterthought into a sparkling powerhouse. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir have rightly basked in the limelight, their Burgundian prestige giving English fizz its well-earned comparisons to Champagne. But as we gain momentum, so too must our thinking; enter Meunier.

But before we look to the future, it’s worth delving into the past. Meunier, also known as Pinot Meunier, is a mutation of Pinot Noir and has been cultivated for centuries. The variety was first identified in France in the 16th century, with its name derived from the French word "meunier," meaning miller, due to the distinctive white, flour-like dusting on the underside of its leaves. In fact, Meunier is not as foreign to England as one might assume. There are suggestions that it was growing here centuries ago, likely introduced by monks or travelling merchants from France. Ampelographers - those who study grapevine identification - have noted historical references to dark-skinned grape varieties thriving along the southern quarter, believing Meunier may have been among them, though records are patchy at best. More concretely, in the 1950s, English wine pioneer Edward Hyams discovered a vine growing wild in a churchyard in the village of Wrotham, Kent. The vine was thought to be over 200 years old and displayed distinctive silver-lined leaves, reminiscent of Pinot Meunier, though it was later confirmed through DNA testing to be an early-ripening clone of Pinot Noir. This discovery suggests that vines just a mutation away from Meunier have had a long-standing presence on our island.

During this time, Meunier became the quiet workhorse of Champagne, where it is prized for its viticultural resilience in comparison to its more delicate stablemates, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Given England’s penchant for fickle weather, it’s surprising that Meunier hasn’t been given more serious consideration until now. While climate change may well be on our side, England’s weather remains a challenge, to say the least. Meunier’s shorter ripening season gives it the ability to dodge cold snaps in the spring while also flourishing before it succumbs to a damp harvest during its last days on the vine, something of an asset in a region where both weather hazards are somehat certain. High-yielding yet capable of producing wines of concentrated character, Meunier promises a glimpse of economic viability (while they say no-one gets into winemaking for the money, less of a loss is always desirable!)

Southern England’s diverse terroir offers an excellent foundation for Meunier, a variety renowned for its adaptability. While parts of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire mirror the chalk-rich soils of Champagne, Meunier also thrives on clay, sand and loam, making it well-suited to a wider variety of sites, including the milder, more maritime conditions of Dorset and Cornwall. Its ability to ripen reliably with fewer sunlight hours and its resistance to variable weather patterns allow it to express different facets of its character, potentially a vessel to express stylistic differences between counties, something that is the next inevitable step in the industry’s development. 

When Meunier became prominent in the Champagne region, particularly in the Marne Valley, its resilience and ability to ripen earlier and more evenly than Pinot Noir made it an invaluable component in blends. While historically, it was seen as a lesser grape, stylistically, used primarily to soften the structure of more austere sparkling wines, as the wine market evolved and single-varietal expressions gained popularity, Meunier began to earn recognition as a grape of worthy of attention. You see, Meunier has more to offer than just filler fluid. Structurally, Meunier produces delicate wines with subtle tannins and bracing acidity, and while youthful Meunier is adorned with summer’s synonyms of cherry pips and rose, with age it develops a savoury depth, in translations of mushroom and autumn leaves, whether white, rosé, red, still or sparkling in expression. 

In France, producers have already begun to re-evaluate its merits, though with notable handfuls in Champagne, the variety is also seeing renewed interest in Germany and California. If English producers embrace it wholeheartedly, they may have a real opportunity to position themselves at the forefront of Meunier’s global revival, after spending years of catching up. And while we must stop mimicking the region, it is impossible to ignore that the key driver of this shift has been the rise of grower Champagnes, where smaller producers have begun to focus on single-varietal, and often single-site, expressions. Notable among them is Jérôme Prévost, whose ‘Les Béguines’ is now widely regarded as one of Champagne’s finest, going for wallet-stripping prices (if you can find them). Prévost’s wines demonstrate the depth, complexity, and aging potential of Meunier, when given the care and attention usually reserved for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

English wine has already surprised the world with its meteoric rise, but if the industry is to sustain this momentum and move the industry forward as a unique piece, it must continue innovating, looking to other regions for inspiration rather than just imitation. Perhaps Meunier, long the unsung hero in the chorus of Champagne, can finally step into the spotlight, ready for its solo.