Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/391696
80 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014 ot many wineries proudly connect their birth to an act of armed civil disobedience. But that's where Champagne Collet—now in the process of a renaissance at its headquarters in Aÿ and re-launching in the United States—has staked its claim and its heritage. As Collet approaches the celebration of its first century, it now looks back fondly on its beginnings in a time of turmoil as a matter of brave and principled actions. To explain, let's go back to the 1910s to the Valley of the Marne in the heart of the Champagne region. The memory of the devastation of phylloxera was still fresh in the minds of many growers there, and now they saw equally calamitous new threats, becoming increasingly incensed at what they now viewed as twin challenges from the great Champagne houses. First was the practice of bringing in grapes from outside of Champagne to make Champagne, bypassing the region's growers, or vignerons, as well as reducing product qual - ity. Second was the forwarding of a plan to extend the Champagne region and whether or not it would include the Aube region, whose growers claimed they were part of traditional Champagne, even if not part of the traditional growing area. RIOTOUS N Champagne by Roger Morris the