This year’s Drinks Business green personality was selected “for his single-minded drive to ensure his Champagne business lives and breathes sustainability”.

As owner and managing director of a 60-hectare estate in Champagne’s southerly sub-region of the Aube, and the producer of 1.7 million bottles annually under the family name, Michel Drappier has become a significant player in the competitive world of Champagne. However, such a presence has not been achieved without at the same time working to minimise his operation’s impact on the environment. Currently, 15ha of his property are certified organic, with another 10 in conversion, although he plans to turn the entire estate to the viticulture practice in the future. He has also become the first Champagne producer to be carbon neutral, having achieved the status in 2016, while at the start of 2017 he launched a new bottle for Drappier Champagnes, made with as much as 87% recycled glass.

The producer is well known for its minimal use of sulphur dioxide in its wines, and is one of the very few Champagne producers to make a cuvée with no added sulphur whatsoever. Most importantly, Michel himself is famous in Champagne for his polite but firm stance on improving the environmental and ethical credentials of this famous fizz-producing region, using his own business as a beacon for excellence – whether that concerns wine quality, or Drappier’s socially responsible and environmentally-friendly approach to production.