Michel’s passion is music. He spent many hours listening to his grandfather play the saxophone and together they listened to music on the radio, so it’s not surprising that music plays a important role, not just in Michel’s  life in general, but in his champagne making too.

Although vines and wine cannot play music, it would certainly seem that they can listen to and appreciate music.

The idea that a vine or a bottle of champagne can be affected by music shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. After all, we all know from our personal experience that music is not just appreciated by our ears; sometimes our entire bodies vibrate to the sound waves and we feel a very real physical sensation.

Depending on the type of music we hear, the sensation produced can sometimes be unpleasant, but it can also be energising , invigorating, soothing , uplifting, even sublime.

Surely it’s not so far-fetched to imagine that the plants in the vineyard and the bottles ageing in the cellar might also be affected in a similar way and perhaps this might be beneficial to both.

Michel certainly believes so and that why if you visit Michel’s family vineyards in Festigny in La Vallée de la Marne you may well find the strains of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and many other classical composers floating across the vineyards as well as in the cellars.

This is not some crackpot idea; far from it. For many years a specific branch of scientific study called genodics has arisen around this concept.

Classical music is played in the vineyards to strengthen the plants’ resistance to disease without the need to use pesticides or other chemicals, so it makes good sense from the environmental point of view as well and in the cellars the music aids the maturation process .

You may well be intrigued enough to want to try these champagnes. If so, I have one piece of advice to finish off with…

 If you look for Champagne Michel Loriot you may have difficulty finding it because the brand is in fact called Apollonis who, as we all know of course, was the daughter of Apollo and the muse that watched over the arts and music in ancient Greece. Fortunately Michel has decided to leave his signature on the labels..

To learn more about champagne take a look at My Champagne Expert a fascinating online course that will take you on a journey through Champagne and will teach you more about champagne than most sommeliers learn in a lifetime.