Before anyone comes to Champagne to meet a champagne maker, I send them samples. They taste them at home, in their own country, and make a first selection from the bottles we’ve sent.
So I understand it when someone tells me they’d rather do the whole thing from home, with the samples in the post and everything else by phone and email. I tell them the choice whether or not to visit Champagne is entirely theirs to make.
Two of my clients have answered that question in opposite ways, and between them they show what the trip is actually for.
The client who has never come
I’ll start with the client who has never been to Champagne, because the remote route does work.
We sent him samples of several different champagnes. He chose one, sent us the artwork for the labels and the packaging, and he’s placed two orders in a little over two years. He has never visited, although we’ve made it clear he’d be very welcome to.
He’s very pleased with the champagne, and the second order is the evidence of that. All the preliminary work was done when he placed his first order, so the time from ordering to delivery is much shorter now, and it runs like clockwork. That’s all he’s looking for. He’s happy, I’m happy, the champagne maker is happy, and if he ever changes his mind and wants to come to Champagne, that’s a choice entirely for him to make.
I think he’s missing out on part of the pleasure. But I don’t think he realises exactly what pleasure a visit would give him.
The family who came in June
A recent client came to Champagne in June with his family, to meet potential champagne makers. We took them to four, and they’d already tasted all four champagnes from the samples we’d sent to their home country. So they had a good idea of the taste before they arrived.
They were just as impressed, if not more so, by actually meeting the champagne makers. They visited their premises, sat down to talk with them, and exchanged jokes and experiences and stories, and that brought the whole experience to life.
Before that visit, the project had mainly been his wife’s idea. Coming to Champagne, experiencing the place and meeting the people involved let her husband see how much more complex the project was than he’d first imagined. He became visibly, noticeably more enthusiastic and, importantly, much more involved. He wanted to get into the details, which he clearly found far more fascinating than he’d originally understood, and he said himself that it was what he’d seen and experienced in Champagne that made the difference.
It gave an extra dimension to the pleasure and excitement the whole family were getting from the project. Soon after he got home, he sent me an email:
“We could not have asked for a more perfect time in Champagne. Just every step of the way was excellent. As a family, we feel very aligned with the process and with the producers we have selected. We are very excited for the next steps.”
What the packaging visit decides
There’s a practical side to the trip as well. While the family were in Champagne, we also visited some of the manufacturers who make the packaging. That way they understood the options available for each element of the packaging and the complexities involved, they were able to make some first choices about colours and designs, and they came away with a much better understanding of the whole process.
In my view, that part of the visit is absolutely essential, because it determines exactly what the product will look like.
An entry ticket
So you don’t have to come. Your champagne can be made and delivered without you ever setting foot in the region, and the client who has never come is very pleased with his.
But when you come to Champagne and experience everything that involves, in my view, it’s like claiming your own sense of belonging to Champagne and the world of Champagne. When you have your own brand, it’s like an entry ticket to that world, to that universe. You feel a sense of belonging, a sense that you’re accepted there, that you’re a valuable and valued client. And as time goes by, you can develop the personal contacts you’ve made in Champagne and go back again and again, knowing you’ll be recognised and welcomed as almost a member of the wider Champagne family.
Each client deals with this question in their own way, according to how they use their time and what they’re looking for from the project. But it would be a pity, in my view, to miss out on all that, because it’s part and parcel of owning your own private champagne brand.
If you’re thinking about a private champagne brand of your own, the next step is a conversation. Whether or not you plan to come to Champagne, I’ll take you through how your project would run. Book a call.