Father's Day Gift Guide 2025: 8 Great Sustainable, Luxury Champagnes

Forbes

29-05-2025

Tasting of Champagne in flute glasses with view of Champagne vineyards, France
Climate change's impact on wine regions around the world has been a hot topic of conversation in recent years. But the winemakers of Champagne—the most famous sparkling wine region in the northeast of France—have had their eyes on the problem for far longer than the general public.
Across the region, producers are moving away from industrial practices and embracing more thoughtful methods — converting to organic or biodynamic farming, reducing synthetic inputs, and rethinking what sustainability means in one of the world's most image-conscious wine regions. Some are experimenting with cover crops, others with compost teas or agroforestry.
For Father's Day, we've rounded up eight bottles that reflect this shift — from forward-thinking grower Champagnes to legacy houses making meaningful changes. Whether you're gifting or gathering, these wines tell a story that goes beyond the label.
The team at Lanson standing in their vineyards.
Since joining Lanson in 2013 and becoming Chef de Caves in 2015, Hervé Dantan has introduced measurable environmental upgrades without changing the house's hallmark style — fresh, elegant wines without malolactic fermentation. He oversaw the launch of Le Green Bio-Organic, a certified organic and biodynamic cuvée sourced exclusively from the 16-hectare biodynamic vineyard, Domaine de la Malmaison in the Vallée de la Marne. He also brought in Eugénie Gianoncelli to oversee sustainability initiatives in Lanson's vineyards and across grower partnerships. From vineyard to cellar, changes include electric tractors, lighter bottles, and improved energy efficiency.
Wine to find: Lanson Le Green Label Organic
Bertrand Lhôpital, cellar master at Champagne Telmont, is steering the house's high-profile "Au Nom de la Terre" initiative, which aims for full organic certification across all vineyards, including growers. Backed by Remy-Cointreau and investor Leonardo DiCaprio, the estate has eliminated air freight, reduced packaging waste, and switched entirely to lightweight bottles. As of 2024, nearly 50% of the estate's sourcing is certified organic. The estate makes its wines with minimal intervention to ensure maximum transparency, often including details about environmental impact on the labels.
Wine to find: Champagne Telmont Reserve Brut
Elise Bougy in her winery.
Élise Bougy took over her family's 3-hectare estate in Les Mesneux in 2016, introducing biodynamic methods in 2021 and earning organic certification in 2022. She farms without synthetic inputs and relies on spontaneous fermentation, full malolactic conversion, and little to no sulphur to capture site transparency in the wine. She neither filters or fines the wines, and ages them in a mix of wooden tanks, stainless steel, and barrels.
Wine to find: Champagne Elise Bougy, 'Le Mont Chainqueux' 1er Cru Blanc De Noirs 2022
Champagne Fleury, based in Courteron in the Aube, was the first Champagne house to fully adopt biodynamic viticulture. Jean-Pierre Fleury began trials in 1989 and converted the family's 15-hectare estate entirely to biodynamics by 1992. His children — Jean-Sébastien, Morgane, and Benoît — have since joined the estate, each contributing to its evolution: from international outreach and natural wine experimentation to vineyard innovation and agroforestry. The family continues to prioritize low-intervention winemaking, using natural preparations, hand-harvesting, and lunar calendars to guide their work. Fleury's Champagnes are known for their clarity, varietal expression, and sense of place.
Wine to find: Champagne Fleury Blanc de Noirs Brut NV
Vineyards of Champagne Marie-Courtin.
Dominique Moreau farms her small estate in the Aube's village of Polisot to produce Champagnes under the Marie-Courtin label. She created the estate in 2005 with a vision to produce a series of single-vineyard, single-variety, single-vintage Champagnes from biodynamically grown grapes to express a true sense of time and place in her wines. In the cellar, she uses spontaneous fermentation by indigenous yeasts and never adds a dosage. She makes some cuvées, including "Concordance," without adding sulfur. She also incorporates intuitive practices — like the use of pendulums — to guide élevage and blending decisions.
Wine to find: Marie Courtin Champagne Extra Brut Blanc de Noirs Efflorescence 2018
A fifth-generation grower in Troissy, Alexis Leconte began converting his family's 13.5-acre estate to organic and biodynamic farming in 2015. The vineyards, planted mainly to Meunier, along with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, are cultivated with compost, cover crops, and without synthetic inputs. In the cellar, Leconte uses spontaneous fermentation, avoids filtration, and limits sulfur additions. His wines are aged in a mix of oak barrels and sandstone tanks, each chosen to match the soil profiles of the vineyard parcels. His wines, including Totem and Aria, emphasize structure and minerality while coaxing elegance from the oft-overlooked Meunier grape.
Wine to find: Champagne A. Leconte Totem
Champagne Drappier team.
At his family's estate in Urville, Hugo Drappier has led one of the region's boldest sustainability strategies. In 2016, Drappier became Champagne's first carbon-neutral producer, thanks to solar power, water recycling, and ultra-lightweight bottles. Seventeen of the estate's 143 acres are certified organic, with the remainder in conversion. In the vineyard, Drappier uses horse plowing and experiments with disease-resistant grape varieties like Voltis. In the cellar, he avoids additives to produce vivid, expressive wines, often without sulphur.
Wine to find: Drappier Brut Nature Sans Soufre
Eric Rodez, based in the Grand Cru village of Ambonnay, has managed his family's estate since 1980. Motivated by the challenges of the 1984 vintage, he stopped using herbicides in 1989 and became the first grower in Champagne to receive HVE (High Environmental Value) certification in 2012 — the same year he achieved organic certification. In 2015, he was certified biodynamic by Demeter. Rodez is known for his thoughtful, terroir-driven approach and produces a wide range of Champagnes that express the depth and character of Ambonnay.
Wine to Find: Eric Rodez Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut NV