How Champagne Chavost Won Over the Young Wine Drinker
It’s no secret that Champagne has a reputation as a luxury product. Associated with celebrations the world over, it’s undeniable that the sparkling wine has a certain “special-occasion” appeal, with the region’s fame only upping its allure. The French AOC is among the most prestigious in the world, and interesting bottles don’t tend to come cheap. Where the average price of Prosecco hovers around $13, Champagne sits at approximately $62 — not exactly pocket change for most consumers, especially those in younger demographics.
The region’s general reputation and the wine’s cost often prompt consumers to form certain notions about it, whether founded or otherwise. Like many other fine wines and the regions that produce them, Champagne can be viewed as inaccessible or even elitist, and these beliefs could be among the factors driving the category’s decline.
In recent years, Champagne has been hit particularly hard by the wine industry’s overall doom and gloom, with exports decreasing for the third consecutive year in 2025 following solid performance in 2022. In 2022, 326 million bottles of Champagne were exported to destinations around the world. Last year, that number was just 266 million, an 18.4 percent decrease in just three years. Despite the downturn, there’s a more playful brand sitting on the Champagne shelf next to illustrious producers with histories dating back centuries — one that shops can’t seem to stop selling: Champagne Chavost.
As an entity, Champagne Chavost dates back to 1946, though it wasn’t until 2019 that the cooperative would restructure and introduce the exuberant label. And with its zero-sulphur-added philosophy, fanciful label design, relatively affordable prices, and great taste, Chavost, which now produces almost a dozen bottlings including three still wines, has accomplished an impressive feat: convincing young drinkers that Champagne is worth their time and money.
Credit: Champagne Chavost via Instagram
How Chavost Came to Be
Founded just after World War II, Champagne Chavost is a cooperative winery based in Chavot-Courcourt, a small commune in the Marne. For the first 73 years of the co-op’s existence, it did not produce a label of its own. Instead, the collective of roughly 20 growers pooled resources to sell grapes to larger Champagne houses, which then used that fruit to craft wines under their existing labels. While some of these growers produced a small amount of wine for long-standing clientele, Champagne Chavost was, in its essence, a collective of growers. But when Fabian Daviaux — the great-grandson of one of the cooperative’s founders — took over as chef de caves (cellar master) in 2019 at just 30 years old, everything shifted.
Daviaux’s first order of business was persuading each of the co-op’s growers — who numbered over 70 at that point — to take their vineyard holdings organic. And they listened. That year, Champagne Chavost started the process of converting all 5.5 hectares (roughly 13.5 acres) to organic farming, completing the process in 2022 and receiving certification in 2023. But Daviaux had another revolutionary idea: Rather than divvying up yields to send to other maisons, what if Chavost released a label of its own showcasing the beauty of this organic fruit?
To do so, Daviaux knew the cooperative would need to eliminate sulphur use during production, a sticking point that was of the utmost importance for the newly appointed cellar master. “In the beginning, zero sulphur was something that was very important for me because I couldn’t breathe when I used to use it,” he explains. “It was 100 percent the main thing.”
In another departure from Champagne tradition, the new Chavost label would consist of single-vintage wines, though none would be labeled with their year of production. That’s because all vintage-labeled Champagne must age for a minimum of three years per AOC guidelines; Chavost matures for no more than two. It was an intentional decision made by Daviaux to preserve the wine’s freshness and primary aromas, two aspects of the wine that linger through the finish thanks to the complete lack of dosage or additives.
The first release of Champagne Chavost, also dubbed the “Et sans sulfites ajoutés!” or “No Added Sulphites” range, arrived in 2021 and, given its natural wine ethos, seemed to be a brand perfectly tailored to garner favor with Millennials and Gen-Z. Entry-level Assemblage, made with 50 percent Chardonnay and 50 percent Pinot Meunier, started at around $50 per bottle, with more elevated offerings rarely exceeding $150. But seeming like a brand young consumers will gravitate toward and actually being a brand they adopt are two separate things. In the case of Champagne Chavost, they luckily were both.
Credit: Disco Birdies via Instagram
The Perfect Storm
By the time bottles of Champagne Chavost hit shelves in 2021, the natural wine movement had been well and truly underway for several years. While there were a few other brands using biodynamic farming to produce zero-sulphur-added Champagnes at the time, the region is notoriously reluctant to embrace change, meaning labels entirely dedicated to both practices are a rarity. That said, given how prevalent natural wine already was at the time of Chavost’s debut, both Daviaux and the folks at Terrestrial Wine Co., one of the label’s U.S. distributors, didn’t have to work to persuade people to give it a try.
“Younger people are more interested in natural wine. This conversation has been had many times, and while the sulfur conversation may be a little tired and played out, it is something people care about,” says Joe Hirsch, who co-founded NYC-based distributor Terrestrial Wine Co. with Benjamin de Longuerue in 2021. “There’s a large subset of young people concerned about what they’re putting into their bodies — that includes what they’re drinking.”
For Chavost to truly take off, though, it also had to win consumers over with impressive texture and an attractive flavor profile, which can be a challenge when crafting zero-sulphur wines. After all, natural wines didn’t get their “funky” or even “barnyardy” reputations for nothing. But Chavost is different — it’s bright and mineral-driven with a grippy mouthfeel and delightful pops of green apple and citrus. While you can taste the impact of not using sulfur, the wines aren’t overly natty, instead delivering the crisp verticality many young consumers are looking for.
This dichotomy is likely what has allowed Chavost to hard launch into the mainstream Champagne sphere. While some natural wines might be relegated to specialized shops and bars, Chavost sits just as comfortably on the menu at establishments pushing low-intervention wines as it does on those that feature classics.
“While the sulfur conversation may be a little tired and played out, it is something people care about. There’s a large subset of young people concerned about what they’re putting into their bodies — that includes what they’re drinking.”
“Chavost has such good crossover compared to other quote unquote ‘natural wine brands.’ We can work with certain distributors who are classically focused and we might be the weirdos in their book,” Hirsch explains. “But then we work with other distributors and we’re kind of the normie because they’re working exclusively with no-sulfur wines. There’s great overlap for us there.”
It’s this specific profile that won over Matt Diaz, the Brooklyn restaurateur behind Bed-Stuy’s For All Things Good, Bar Birba, and Disco Bottles, a wine shop located in the former Bondi Wines and Spirits that opened in 2025. Just across the street is Disco Birdies, a fried chicken spot with a beverage list exclusively focused on Champagne. (Diaz has since sold his share in Disco Birdies but was responsible for the development of the menu and bottle selections.)
“I certainly remember my introduction to [Chavost]. It has this profile that is just so expressive,” he recalls. “There are some Champagnes that go that route — high acid, very clean, very bright — while others go the crowd-pleasing, brioche-y, rich style. Chavost being that more expressive style is something that makes it stand apart. I find it very appealing.”
Credit: Bloomsday via Instagram
So when the time came to put a by-the-glass Champagne on the menu at Disco Birdies, Diaz knew Chavost was quite possibly the perfect bottle. By 2025, the label already had some brand recognition under its belt, yet prices were just as accessible as they were when the label launched four years prior. Diaz needed a bottle that didn’t skimp on quality but could easily fit in the by-the-glass range so the restaurant wasn’t taking a crazy hit on margin. Assemblage, as such, felt like the natural choice.
“I wanted people to be able to recognize the brand and understand they were getting good value. Chavost was selected because it’s good, people knew it, and there would be some concept of ‘this is actually a great deal,’” he says. “Because it is — a $16-glass pour of Chavost is a very good deal.”
It wasn’t just Diaz who was won over by the expressive nature of Chavost. Bottles are on offer at trendy restaurants like the Flatiron District’s Saint Urban and Coqodaq, Clinton Hill’s Place des Fêtes, and Bonnie’s in Williamsburg.
When Chris Liu, beverage director at the Philadelphia natural wine bar Bloomsday, encountered Champagne Chavost a few years back, he was impressed with its zero-dosage, natural-leaning methods that spanned across the label’s entire portfolio. Historically a fan of decadent, rich, leesy Champagnes, Liu was attracted to the label’s fresh, linear, and acid-driven styles, describing tasting it for the first time as “a fun escape of sorts.” So he added it to the bottle list.
“This kind of style felt like it would lean more towards the younger generation and newer drinkers in general,” he explains. “It’s pleasing, it goes with food, but it can also be enjoyed on its own.”
But what really motivated Liu to list Assemblage at Bloomsday were the philosophies instituted by Daviax in 2019. As a natural wine bar, Bloomsday places high emphasis on showcasing well-made, thoughtful wines produced with low levels of intervention. Some of these bottles might fall on the more natural side of the spectrum, sure, but Bloomsday aims to have something for everyone — classic and natural wine drinkers alike. With its lack of additional sulphur, zippy profile, and attractive price point, Champagne Chavost fits right in, and it tells a story Bloomsday patrons are interested in hearing.
“People say this younger generation doesn’t drink, but I really think it’s more that they’re open to exploring new things. They want new experiences,” Liu argues. “Obviously something like Champagne is known, but it doesn’t often acknowledge this new consumer and the type of exploration they’re doing. Nor does it pay attention to the care young people have about their bodies. Chavost does.”
Credit: Champagne Chavost via Instagram
The Power of a Label
Aside from the power of Chavost’s production methodology, there’s a separate element of the Champagne that attracted consumers before they even had a chance to try it: its label. Where natural wines have come to be synonymous with more playful, imaginative bottle designs, Champagne has not. Despite the buttoned-up reputation of Chavost’s home region, Daviaux went forth with bottling his wine with labels never before seen in Champagne: illustrated cartoons.
Each label in the lineup was designed by Daviaux and his brother and depicts life at the Chavot-Courcourt co-op. On Assemblage, you’ll spot growers harvesting their grapes in front of the winery, while the figures on Blanc de Chardonnay bring up bins of grapes for sorting. Blanc de Meunier continues the story, depicting the start of the winemaking process as grapes come into the production facility for pressing. The Rosé bottling keeps the narrative going, showing recently vinified wine entering barrels.
Chavosts’ Coteaux Champenois and Ratafia Champenois bottlings are similar, while Paradoxe and Eurêka are even more imaginative, showcasing growers on a giant wave at sea and out in space, respectively. “I know how important it is to have an impactful label when you sell bottles of wine,” Daviaux says. “The novelty, the difference, and the colors.”
The label was certainly impactful for Liu when he was first learning about Chavost a few years back. He recalls the illustrations sticking with him and an influx of questions immediately rattling around in his brain. “Seeing a label outside of the classical Champagne style was so exciting,” he says. “I remember thinking, ‘Who are these guys? Are they something new? Is there a new face in the game?’”
And while Diaz was first impressed by the quality of Champagne Chavost when he was introduced to it — especially considering its price point — he doesn’t deny the power the label has on retail performance. At Disco Bottles, they maintain a stock of Assemblage, Paradoxe, and Eurêka, and Chavost consistently ranks as their fastest-selling Champagne. In fact, Diaz explains that whenever the shop posts a photo of Chavost, they get more engagement from followers and non-followers alike.
“I wanted people to be able to recognize the brand and understand they were getting good value. Chavost was selected because it’s good, people knew it, and there would be some concept of ‘This is actually a great deal. Because it is — a $16-glass pour of Chavost is a very good deal.”
Considering Disco Bottles’ occupies a space that’s long been home to wine shops, there’s a variety of clientele that come in searching for the perfect wine. Some of these customers are members of the older generation seeking more conventional wines or live nearby and are in the market for an everyday sipper. But Diaz says there’s also a number of young people who swing by specifically seeking out small-production wines like Champagne Chavost, and they’re almost always aware of the brand before they come in.
“The most DMs I get online are about Chavost. People are so responsive, like ‘Hey, I’m going to come in and buy this,’ or ‘Hey, can you put this aside for me? And we don’t even have that many followers,” he says. “But they have a line of wines with really interesting labels. From a retail standpoint, that concept matters.”
Let the Consumer Come to You
Champagne Chavost having all the markers for success — a good story, low-intervention ethos, memorable label, quality juice, and accessible price point — and Champagne Chavost actually becoming successful are two separate things, though. But where many other brands rely on marketing to help usher in this success, Chavost’s lack thereof could have been exactly what drew consumers in.
As argued by other alcohol industry executives, Gen Z does not engage with any product that feels “forced,” instead choosing to connect with brands that feel authentic and not too serious. While it may not have been an intentional move for Chavost to align itself with this reasoning — Daviaux comments that the brand does not have a target demographic or strategy to attract these specific consumers — its strategy to increase recognition has done exactly that. As Daviaux remarks, “We just post pictures on Instagram, that’s it.”
A post on Instagram is exactly how Joe Hirsch came to find Champagne Chavost while hunting for a Champagne to bring into the Terrestrial portfolio. Attracted to its packaging at first and later recognizing the quality it offered, Hirsch brought it on, though he admits that he, too, didn’t have much of a plan when it came to placing Chavost at specific wine bars or in certain bottle shops. It didn’t matter.
“As an importer, you can be prescriptive with your choices, like ‘Oh, we need a Sancerre,’ but we weren’t just looking to fill a certain category here,” he explains. “We put a pretty big financial bet on it. It was definitely a huge risk — but it paid off.”
Since Terrestrial started working with Champagne Chavost, sales have doubled every year. This year, Hirsh says, the only reason Terrestrial won’t be doubling its Chavost sales is because the label is on track to run out of wine due to high demand. And because the brand remains accessible both availability- and price-wise, that demand is coming from all types of consumers, whether they’re industry professionals or those just getting started on their wine journeys.
“It’s definitely become a very successful retail brand, but it still has respect from sommeliers,” Hirsch says. “It has the quality that top restaurants need, but it also has the brand recognition that retailers love, and I think that’s what makes Chavost so unique.”
The article How Champagne Chavost Won Over the Young Wine Drinker appeared first on VinePair.