Champagne set to expand its horizons - By Adam Sage, The Times
Champagne set to expand its horizons
French winemakers are set to increase the official champagne-making area by up to 15 per cent to meet demand.
The landmark move — representing the biggest change in the sector for decades — comes almost 100 years after mayors in eastern France spurned the chance to join their neighbours in making the sparkling wine.
In 1927, fearing higher taxes and bureaucracy, several mayors decided that local farmers would be better off growing cereal crops than becoming one of the officially designated districts where champagne could be produced.
It proved to be a costly mistake. The average price of vineyards in the 319 districts that decided to opt into the champagne region was €1.06 million per hectare in 2022. The price of land in the districts that opted out was about 1 per cent of that. Under the 1927 legislation, champagne can be made only by the 16,000 or so vineyard owners based in districts within the official zone, which spans 34,000 hectares. Outside this, landowners are not allowed to plant vines, except to make wine for their own consumption.
For decades mayors of the districts outside the champagne zone, who looked on jealously at what might have been, have been pushing to rectify their predecessors’ wrong decision. At long last they may be about to get their wish.
Maxime Toubart, chairman of the General Union of Winemakers in Champagne, has said his organisation is prepared to increase the official champagne-making area by up to 15 per cent.
His words brought joy to the hills around Troyes, east of Paris, where vines grew for centuries, producing wines so good they were served to Louis XIII when he visited in 1629, according to Joël Rochard, an oenologist. Yet by 1927, after the phylloxera disease had wiped out vines and the First World War had created labour shortages, all but one council in the area had opted out of the champagne-making zone.Now the likes of Rochard are pressing for districts in the Côteaux de Troyes to be allowed in, arguing that the geography, history and geology point in favour of champagne production there.
However, the plan to extend the champagne-making zone has divided the region. Critics argue that an increase in the number of producers could result in a champagne glut, driving down prices.
Proponents say with flavescence dorée disease ravaging vines in the champagne region, it is going to be necessary to create new vineyards to meet demand. Sceptics point out that the plan was first mooted in 2003, leading to a public inquiry five years later to determine the districts that could be included in the champagne zone.
A total of 45 were designated, but 1,334 complaints were submitted. It took two years to hear them all. In 2011 experts were asked to go further and designate the plots where vines could be planted within the new districts. Their mission has proved arduous, with warnings that landowners whose plots were excluded might resort to violence. “It’s the sort of thing that creates a lot of jealousy,” a source with knowledge of the case said.
The experts are expected to finalise the new official champagne-producing map by the end of this year. Members of the champagne union will vote on it next year, Toubart said. But L’Union, the regional daily, accused the union of double-dealing. It said that although professing to be in favour of extending the production zone, many vineyard owners were doing their best to delay its implementation.
The newspaper said vines were unlikely to be planted in newly designated parcels before 2030.
The experts are expected to finalise the new official champagne-producing map by the end of this year. Members of the champagne union will vote on it next year, Toubart said. But L’Union, the regional daily, accused the union of double-dealing. It said that although professing to be in favour of extending the production zone, many vineyard owners were doing their best to delay its implementation.
The newspaper said vines were unlikely to be planted in newly designated parcels before 2030.
Article Written By Adam Sage, The Times Newspaper
25th March 2024
