Most guides say three. The AOC now says nine. Until recently the champagne grapes were seven: the big three plus four forgotten varieties. Since 2022 Voltis sits on the cahier des charges as an experimental hybrid. In 2025 the INAO added Chardonnay Rose as the eighth vinifera. Knowing all nine tells you where Champagne can go today and where it is heading next.
The big three (99.7 percent)
Chardonnay (~30 percent of plantings). White grape, mostly on the chalk of the Côte des Blancs. Brings linearity, citrus, chalk, long ageing capacity. The base of nearly every Blanc de Blancs.
Pinot Noir (~38 percent). Black grape with clear juice. Dominant on the Montagne de Reims and in the Aube. Adds body, red fruit, structure and power. Gives Blanc de Noirs its weight.
Pinot Meunier (~32 percent). Long dismissed as the peasant grape, now back in fashion. Thrives on the cooler clay-marl soils of the Vallée de la Marne. Early-ripening, approachable fruit, rounded palate. The engine of many non-vintage house cuvées.
Figures: Comité Champagne, grape varieties.
The four forgotten grapes (~0.3 percent)
Arbane. White, small berries, late-ripening, low yields. Brings fine florals and an unusual acid profile. Preserved by a handful of growers in the Aube.
Petit Meslier. White, also late, also marginal. High acidity, herbal, citrussy. Useful under a warming climate because it handles long growing seasons.
Pinot Blanc. A mutation of Pinot Noir with white skin. Rounder, softer fruit. Easy to grow but rarely planted.
Pinot Gris (locally Fromenteau). Early-ripening, scented, sometimes faintly oxidative. Small percentage in older vineyards.
Some growers make so-called “sept cépages” cuvées where all seven appear together. Aubry, Laherte Frères and Drappier are the best-known examples. In 2023 Drappier became the first to go further and planted Voltis. Worth tasting blind next to a classical Blanc de Blancs.
Eighth grape: Chardonnay Rose (since 2025)
In 2025 the INAO added a Chardonnay mutation to the cahier des charges: Chardonnay Rose. Not a crossing, not a hybrid. A natural colour mutation with a pink-to-grey skin, found within old Chardonnay plantings and historically preserved in Burgundy.
Vinification still produces white wine because the juice is clear. What it adds is phenolic texture and a touch of aromatic lift, similar to what Pinot Gris contributes to a blend. In practice almost nothing is in the ground yet. The listing is primarily a genetic and aromatic insurance policy for the years ahead.
Source: Comité Champagne, grape register 2025.
Ninth grape: Voltis (VIFA, since 2022)
In February 2022 the INAO approved Voltis for the Champagne AOC, the first fungus-resistant hybrid ever cleared for a French AOC. Not as a fully recognised cépage, but under the VIFA framework: Variétés d’Intérêt à Fin d’Adaptation. An experimental track to test grapes that help against climate stress and disease pressure.
The limits are tight:
- Maximum 5 percent of an estate’s vineyard area.
- Maximum 10 percent of any individual cuvée.
- Observation period until roughly 2032 or 2033. The INAO will then decide on permanent inclusion, extension or withdrawal.
Voltis is a crossing of Villaris and an MTp3294 line, developed by INRAE in Colmar. The variety carries multiple resistance genes against downy and powdery mildew, which sharply reduces fungicide sprays. First commercial cuvées with a Voltis share have already been vinified by Drappier and Vranken-Pommery, among others. The Charles de Cazanove BSP library keeps the DNA reference.
Flavour-wise the verdict is still open. Voltis sits aromatically close to Chardonnay, with a touch more herbal character and lower acidity. In a 10 percent blend it is hard to pick out, and that is the point: an insurance policy that does not disturb house style.
Sources: INAO on VIFA, PIWI International. Background: our lexicon entry on Voltis.
Why this matters
The climate is shifting. Higher temperatures speed up Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, sometimes at the cost of acidity. Arbane and Petit Meslier keep their acid longer in hot years. Pinot Gris and Chardonnay Rose add aromatic lift. Voltis lowers the chemical footprint in the vineyard. The six marginal varieties together are not folklore, they are a quiet reserve from which the region can reinvent itself.
How to spot this on a bottle
Some houses list the grape split on the label or back-label. Growers almost always do. Big houses usually relegate it to the tech sheet. A standard non-vintage from a big house: roughly 1/3 Chardonnay, 1/3 Pinot Noir, 1/3 Meunier, with house variation year on year through reserve-wine blending. To find Voltis or Chardonnay Rose in a blend, look at Drappier, Vranken and a handful of experimental growers.