Is the hype machine bad for indie champagne?

New faces in champagne are being thrust into orbit almost immediately. How is it happening, and is it healthy?

I walked into a well-known Champagne shop in Épernay last November. On the shelf was a bottle of Pinot Meunier I remember seeing doing the rounds on a few Scandi instagram accounts. I looked up the producer; it was his first vintage. Sprightly-looking chap in with a baseball cap on backwards. It looked fun.

It turned out that you (or at least I) couldn’…