Lille (France) (AFP) – France’s Champagne region kicked off its official grape harvest Wednesday, with producers predicting a “promising” yield after an early start brought on by hot weather. “The vineyards are in remarkable condition, which allows us to approach this harvest with confidence and serenity,” Maxime Toubart, co-president of the Comite Champagne industry association, said in a statement.
The harvests for each grape variety — Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier — are set to open in stages, with the latest starting on September 4, after high temperatures pushed the schedule forward. Earlier ripening, confirmed by a “historically rapid increase in alcohol content,” reflects the impact of the second-warmest year since the start of the century, the Comite Champagne said. Even so, “a very good vintage” is within reach, said David Chatillon, the co-chairman for the committee. “The grapes are in excellent health, acidity levels are satisfactory and aromatic maturity is developing harmoniously,” the statement said.
The upbeat outlook followed the industry’s warnings in recent weeks about the brutal impact of US tariffs, with wine growers pushing for an exemption. The champagne industry sells about 10 percent of its production volume to the US market, and 14 percent of its total output value, representing 820 million euros ($955 million), according to 2024 figures provided by the Comite Champagne.
In late July, champagne producers said they would cut the amount of grapes used to make the celebrated fizz amid economic uncertainty by 10 percent. The marketable yield limit for the 2025 harvest was set at 9,000 kilos per hectare, down from 10,000 kilos per hectare last year and one of the lowest in years, the Comite said in July.
The harvest also opens with the industry under tough scrutiny after three people were charged in July with trafficking seasonal workers and housing them in squalid conditions. And in November, a service provider and its manager will go on trial on suspicion of having housed 40 Ukrainians in unfit conditions.
Every year, around 120,000 seasonal workers are recruited to pick the grapes grown across 34,000 hectares (84,000 acres) in the Champagne region. In 2023, four harvesters died, possibly of sunstroke after working in scorching heat.
© 2024 AFP
