Cover Telmont Champagne
Telmont Champagne
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Ludovic du Plessis, president of Telmont, is making radical changes to combat climate change, from banning packaging to creating the lightest bottle in Champagne
What does it take to turn a champagne brand into a household name? For Ludovic du Plessis, the president 111-year-old champagne house Telmont, it’s not about being the next Moët & Chandon or Dom Pérignon (where he spent 10 successful years before joining Louis XIII for seven more as its global executive director). Today, he is an activist in the world of luxury wine, pushing for sustainability and change in an age-old industry. There is no effort too big or small in his current quest to build a business for good at Telmont—whether it’s banning all forms of packaging, using a whisky-style label on a champagne product for transparency, or roping in his good friend Leonardo DiCaprio as a business partner.
It has been a whirlwind of activity for the maison that was re-launched in June 2021 with the most ambitious environmental manifesto yet. In its recently published Our Guide to Sustainability in Champagne, Telmont sets out the aim of being the first climate positive champagne house by 2030, and also one that is net positive by 2050. “I love champagne,” du Plessis explains, “But I am also a father of three so it’s very important to me to do a business for good.”
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Above Ludovic Du Plessis
Ludovic Du Plessis
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With his movie star looks, the 49-year-old abounded with boyish energy on his recent visit to Singapore, despite the reality of red-eye flights and long training engagements. But the toil is all paying off, he reckons, as Telmont has made definitive steps towards achieving its goals, including the latest milestone of creating the lightest bottle in champagne thus far.
In giving voice to sustainability, du Plessis sees only positives. “While I would never say the taste of organic is better than non-organic, what I will say is that organic is better for the health of the winegrower, the soil, and the planet,” he says. “Only 4 per cent of Champagne practises organic agriculture. However, the best way to determine which champagne you like is to taste it blind. For me, I taste more brightness, freshness and crispness (in organic wine).”
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Above Telmont has decided to go fully organic and phase out herbicide, pesticide and fungicide from their vineyards
Above Only 4 per cent of Champagne practices organic agriculture
Telmont has decided to go fully organic and phase out herbicide, pesticide and fungicide from their vineyards
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Genius in the bottle
As early as 2002, the region of Champagne had become the first wine-growing region in the world to assess its carbon footprint, an environmental audit that has continued every five years since and is reported at champagne.fr. Specific strides have been taken since the region's bold claim. For instance, in 2011, the introduction of a lighter weight bottle from 900g to 835g, meant reductions of up to 8,000 tons of CO2 emissions every year. The type of bottle used in wine-making has always been of upmost importance as a strong bottle is necessary to contain the tremendous pressure involved in bottling sparkling wine made in the Méthode Traditionnelle.
But du Plessis believed that even the new lighter-weight bottle could be improved, so he pushed his glassmaking partner Verallia to conduct R&D on an 800g bottle, and to much success. This new and most lightweight bottle will soon be utilised to the tune of 30,000 bottles, and eventually 100,000 at Telmont. “There is no patent as we want anyone to be able to use it,” he elaborates. “If the industry adopts 200 million of these bottles, the reduction of carbon footprint will be tremendous.”
And while biodiversity is the current buzzword in Champagne, du Plessis emphasises that it’s simply not enough. “All champagne houses are now practicing biodiversity, such as planting cover crops. But if you stop there, you are going nowhere. So we decided to go organic and phase out herbicide, pesticide, and fungicide, so that there are no chemicals in the vineyard. Biodiversity and organic agriculture need to be done together,” he urges. Currently, 95 per cent of Telmont’s vineyards are in conversion, if not already converted, to organic agriculture. It will, however, take more time to convince partner winegrowers to do the same due to the costs of conversion.
Above Telmont is on a mission to be a climate positive champagne house by 2030
Above As part of its sustainability efforts, Telmont aims to create the lightest champagne bottle
Telmont is on a mission to be a climate positive champagne house by 2030
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Troublemakers of Champagne
Every step to reduce Telmont’s carbon footprint has been disruptive, strategic and well-thought-out. Banning gift boxes and packaging, which du Plessis considers superfluous, resulted in an 8 per cent reduction in carbon production. Replacing non-recyclable transparent glass bottles with 87 per cent recycled green bottles reduced another 19.3 per cent. Halting air freight completely was undoubtedly one of the more radical moves, as it requires long-term planning to get bottles to international markets. But the numbers speak for themselves as air freight emits 27 times more greenhouse gas than maritime transport.
“If I didn’t start any of these initiatives, there would be no resulting reduction in carbon today,” du Plessis muses. “This is how serious we are. We have to go three steps ahead. This is what Telmont is doing. We are the troublemakers of champagne.”
Credits
Images: House of Telmont
