How did you get into wine?

I was raised in Champagne – my grandparents had vineyards. I picked grapes to earn a bit of money, and loved to see the way the wine was made, but I had no intention of going into the wine business. Until I was 18 I wanted to be a vet. I loved animals, and I wanted to be a very specific vet, in a zoo, to work with tigers, lions, elephants – all the big animals.

You were serious about that as a career?

Yes, but it was difficult to study as a vet in France and my teacher told me I should do biology as a backup, so I went to the Institut National Agronomique in Paris. Then I had to make a choice, so I was debating between fish farming and genetics and then, at Christmas 1984 or 85, when I was 21, my uncle opened a bottle of 1976 Richebourg from Gros. That was my first "wow" wine. It was amazing. So I went back to school in Paris and found there was a winemaking course, and I thought: "That's what I want to do." Not only for the products, but for the people as well. I knew that was the environment I wanted to be in.

So the wine that got you started was a Burgundy. When did you decide you wanted to make Champagne?

Never! I wanted to get away from my region. My dream was to be in Bordeaux or some place in the sun. I went to work in California [at Scharffenberger], in Minervois, and in the Rhône Valley, but eventually I ended up back in Champagne, which I don't regret at all.

What do you find most rewarding about making Champagne?

In terms of winemaking, the complexity of the process is very interesting. Understanding the second fermentation phase, the anticipation. Every year is so different, yet we have to make 95 per cent of the wines the same as the year before. I find that challenge very exciting. And I also like the fact that you are less important than the house. If I ask you who made the 2002 you would have no idea, and I know that in 2030 my name will be forgotten. The winemaker just has to maintain the consistency of the style. And that's it.

But – mentioning no names – there are some showmen in Champagne?

Of course. We have to travel, and talk about the wines. But my colleagues are no different to me. I can guarantee they all consider themselves secondary to the house. Look at Richard Geoffroy [the celebrated chef de cave of Ruinart's sister house Dom Pérignon]. He absolutely embodies the style. He even looks like a monk – you couldn't get any closer to Dom Pérignon than that.

© Champagne Ruinart

Ruinart has always been the most modest of Champagne houses, hasn't it?

That's both true and not true. In France, it was the Champagne everyone has heard of – in a poll last year of 1600 people, they asked what is their ideal Champagne. Ruinart was number one by far. It was named spontaneously by 57 percent of people, before [Veuve] Clicquot, and then Roederer.

And abroad?

Historically, Ruinart was really damaged in the First World War, then the Depression and the Second World War. When Bertrand Mure took over [in 1947] he had no money, no stock, a few vineyards and no cash, so he looked to France to revive the market. Export was less than 30 percent of sales until a few years ago, while most Champagne houses are 90 percent export.

What about the US market?

It's responding very well – it's about three per cent of sales so there is a lot of room to grow, but we don't want to be in Costco or the big chains. We want to be with the right accounts in the right states. Some cities respond better than others – Las Vegas, for example, isn't doing well. Despite the fact they have the highest number of Master Sommeliers in the world, the average knowledge of consumers is not very high. Americans are not very adventurous so they will go for Dom Pérignon or Clicquot before Ruinart.

Can you talk a bit about recent vintages in Champagne – which are the best and worst?

There are no great vintages, only great bottles. Seriously – in Champagne we are worried about global warming, but it's helped us in a way. That, plus our knowledge of the vineyard, and the knowledge of winemaking. We used to be able to have a vintage three years out of 10, but now it's more like one year in 10 that you can't make a vintage. Maybe it's lowered the value of the idea of vintage.

Ruinart was the odd one out in 2012. Most houses considered it excellent but you didn't. Why was that?

2012 remains a mystery to me. The Chardonnay grapes were the best I have ever seen in my life; mature, healthy, great yield, everything was perfect. But when we tasted in October I thought there was something wrong with my nose, as the wine wasn't expressing anything. We were very disappointed by it. Everyone said what a fantastic vintage it was, and I thought I must have messed up something. So we didn't make anything that year.

© Champagne Ruinart | Ruinart's Chardonnay vines unexpectedly failed to make a vintage in 2012.

Is there anywhere else you could make sparkling wine as well as in Champagne?

There are cool-climate regions where you can make sparkling wine as good as most Champagnes, but with the great regions of the world there is often a level where you can't compete. You can find excellent sparkling wine but there is no wine to match the quality of the prestige cuvée.

Is that terroir or winemaking expertise?

It's terroir: soil and climate, and collective knowledge. It's not the technique – you can have the best winemaker in the world but if you haven't got the land you can't make great wine. It's the grasp of the land and how to interpret it. That takes many years and it can't be replicated.

Do you think you're going to stay in Champagne for the rest of your career?

When you join a company like Ruinart you stay there. I told my boss, if you want me to stay I will stay – I'll stay until 2029 and drink those 1929 bottles. If I have to move, I've thought about making my own wine, not necessarily Champagne, but in a place where it's easy to sell – the hardest part is selling, not making. I don't want to kill the romance but I'm pragmatic.

When you're not making wine, what do you do to relax?

I'm a free diving instructor – I haven't been exercising recently but, a few years ago, I could stay down for five minutes. A lot of it is in here [taps head]. You have to be super-relaxed and zen. I don't compete at the top level – they go down 100 meters and I can do 36m. That's not bad. It's the depth of the Crayères [the famous chalk cellars] at Ruinart.