#35 Understanding Champagne Harvest 2026 with David Chatillon and Maxime Toubart

Today we're looking at the 2026 harvest through two quite different, but deeply interconnected, perspectives: the vineyard and the cellar.

My guests are David Chatillon and Maxime Toubart, two men who sit at the centre of some of the most important decisions affecting Champagne today.

 David Chatillon is President of the Union des Maisons de Champagne, or UMC, the organisation representing Champagne's Houses. He knows the organisation particularly well, having served as its Director General from 2007 before becoming President in 2022, and being re-elected in 2025.

 Maxime Toubart is a Champagne winegrower and President of the Syndicat Général des Vignerons de la Champagne, or SGV, which represents the interests of Champagne's growers. A longstanding advocate for the vineyard, Maxime was re-elected President of the SGV in March 2026 at a particularly interesting moment for the region, as Champagne confronts changing global demand alongside increasingly complex climatic conditions.

Together, David and Maxime also serve as co-presidents of the Comité Champagne, representing the two sides of Champagne's interprofessional structure: the Maisons and the vignerons. It's a relationship that becomes particularly important at harvest, when decisions around yields, reserves and the longer-term needs of the market have consequences right across the appellation.

So today, we're going to unpack the 2026 harvest: what actually happened in the vineyards, why its quality may be considerably more exciting than some early commentary suggested, how Champagne arrives at a commercial yield, and perhaps most importantly, what the market is telling Champagne about how much wine it actually needs to produce.

About your host:

Sara Underdown is a leading and trusted voice for champagne in Australia. 

In 2018 she founded VINE & BUBBLE, an online champagne publication, luxury events and travel company.

Sara is a Dame Chevalier of L’Ordre des Côteaux de Champagne and has been recognised through the prestigious Vin de Champagne Awards, the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards and the Born Digital Wine Awards. In addition to writing for VINE & BUBBLE, she writes regularly for numerous drinks publications, magazines and newspapers. Sara is also the official Star Wine List Ambassador for the Champagne region.

In 2023, Sara created the VINE & BUBBLE Podcast. It’s all about the people, the region, the history and - of course - the wine. She travels to Champagne regularly, talking with the Cellar Masters, industry representatives and everyone in between to connect wine lovers with the story behind the finest bubbles of all. You can listen anytime on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

VINE & BUBBLE brings together a network of Australian wine journalists, sommeliers, educators and industry representatives as regular contributors. They are knowledgeable and extremely passionate about the subject of our passion – champagne. As a team of champagne lovers and communicators, we are thrilled to share our united passion with wine-loving audiences.

Connect with Sara: [email protected] or via LinkedIn