Perrier-Jouët Champagne: A strong commitment to nature

Last updated 12 September 2024 In Features

For Maison Perrier-Jouët, sustainability is not a modern fad – Pierre-Nicolas Perrier was a renowned botanist and horticulturist, and he and Rose-Adélaïde Jouët established the Champagne house with a firm commitment to sustainable viticulture.

The founding ethos remains central to this day: Perrier-Jouët has set itself the ambitious goal of implementing regenerative viticultural practices in all its own vineyards and seeing full sustainable certification in those with which it partners by 2030.

In so doing, Maison Perrier-Jouët is working to meet the climate objectives set out by the 2015 Paris Agreement, while also striving to enrich the biodiversity of Champagne, building on over two centuries of stewardship of this terroir.

Enriching the vineyards

Maison Perrier-Jouët uses a wide array of innovative techniques: since 2014, the house has maintained trees, shrubs, hedges and beehives alongside its grapevines, and its vineyards received Sustainable Viticulture in Champagne certification in 2016. In 2020, Perrier-Jouët eliminated chemical herbicides entirely, in favour of mechanical soil preparations, plant cover and even an all-electric robot, Bakus, that can remove weeds without overly compacting the soil.

2021 saw the implementation of an experimental regenerative viticultural programme across more than 40% of Perrier-Jouët’s vineyards. The house is experimenting with biomass cover crops, vitiforestry and green corridors; all these methods regenerate the soils and improve their fertility, enrich biodiversity, limit emissions and enhance the vines’ resilience to the effects of climate change.

Sustainability from vine to bottle

Maison Perrier-Jouët’s commitment to sustainability doesn’t stop in the vineyard. All of the house’s production facilities are already powered by green energy and will eventually run entirely on Épernay’s biomass network. In transportation, the house favours rail and sea over air and road wherever possible, and uses sail-powered cargo ships, for 90% lower emissions than standard cargo ships.

Even gifting has been redesigned with the environment in mind – the maison’s cuvées are now available in natural, lightweight and fully recyclable packaging, including the innovative Belle Epoque cocoon, made from sustainable paper pulp and vine cuttings recycled after winter pruning.

From the vineyard to the finished wine, Belle Epoque’s iconic floral bottle couldn’t be a more fitting symbol of Maison Perrier-Jouët’s continued passion for nature.