Coronavirus: France's champagne industry goes flat amid pandemic
"Covid has left everything reeling," says Bernard Beaulieu, a champagne producer and former head of the CGT Champagne winegrowers union."The fall in sales is staring us in the face. It's hastened a crisis that, if you ask me, has been a long time coming."
These tensions will likely come to a head at a meeting on 18 August, when a decision must be made on how many champagne grapes each of the roughly 15,000 growers is allowed to put on the market. Uniquely in French wine, the champagne region follows a"single-yield" rule. This means all growers, or vignerons, agree to sell only a fixed amount of grapes per hectare. Any surplus is left to rot in the field or is turned into a refrigerated"reserve" for use in case of poor future harvests.There is always haggling between the growers and the négociants - the 300 or so dealers who buy up grapes for the prestigious champagne houses such as Bollinger, Krug and Mumm.
But the vineries want a bigger yield of around 8,500kg. The union representing them says this is the minimum amount that would allow the growers to stay financially afloat. It is less worried about unsold stocks and says the current exceptional conditions are too good to miss.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Why there isn’t really a ‘surge’ in asylum seekers reaching the UK from northern FranceThe reality is that migrants have been arriving from northern France via unauthorised routes for many years, but increased security and heightened restrictions have led to a shift in method, writes May Bulman
Read more »
The Covid long haul: why are some patients not getting better?When the Guardian’s Luke Harding began suffering symptoms of Covid-19 he assumed he would be laid low for a couple of weeks. Five months later he is still unwell, and he has found hundreds of people like him
Read more »
Why pioneering oceanographer Marie Tharp deserves to be remembered as one of science's greatsMarie Tharp’s topographical maps helped to revolutionise our understanding of the sea floor. With the 100th anniversary of her birth, geoscientists are still building on her work, writes Suzanne O’Connell
Read more »
Lorraine Kelly: Why is Lorraine leaving the Good Morning Britain team?LORRAINE KELLY will not feature on Good Morning Britain any more. Why is Lorraine leaving the Good Morning Britain team?
Read more »
Travel latest: France 'days away from being added to quarantine list'🔴 Travel latest: France is days away from being added to the UK’s quarantine list, according to senior sources within the Government
Read more »