A senior Champagne boss has called for yields to be slashed for the 2009 harvest.
Paul-François Vranken, head of Vranken-Pommery Monopole - one of the three biggest Champagne houses - has called for yields in Champagne to be cut to between 7,500 and 9,600kg per hectare.
This would represent a 50% reduction in production compared with the two previous harvests of 2007 and 2008.
In those years just under 400m bottles were produced in Champagne. The vast majority of this wine is still sitting – unsold – in cellars in Champagne.
The maximum yield in Champagne is usually decided in early August each year, just before the harvest starts, by the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) after discussions between growers and the major houses.
Many producer CEOs may agree with Vranken, but since growers' income relies on selling grapes, which are rapidly falling in price, it remains to be seen if the growers can be persuaded to agree to halving their own incomes.
And this debate is likely to hot up as sales have dropped dramatically in the first quarter of 2009.
Domestic sales were down by a third (29.3%) in the first eight weeks of 2009, while their European exports dropped by nearly half (47.7%).
Exports to countries outside Europe – like Japan and the USA – were down 43.1%.
This trend appears to be accelerating: the French domestic market in February alone was down 35.4% or 1.9m bottles.
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What a sinister turn of irony that is now in effect on the Champagne producers. Not 2 years ago, they were telling everyone in the world how they did not have enough production to meet the insatiable demand that apparently existed and were even looking to include new areas into the appellations of Champagne. Now, they are talking about cutting their yields in half and all of the unsold stock they're going to be sitting on. It's a shame, because they increased prices of their Champagnes over consecutive years leading up to 2008 and then when things start to get tough, they want to cut yields? How about they cut the prices back down to 2002 levels or so, which would be fully in order, and that way they could perhaps stimulate the market a bit. It is rather remarkable how all these things that are happening in the world of finance and the economy was largely caused by greed; well, this is not much different, is it now?
Gil Lempert-Schwarz, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Should we be concerned that the vast majority of the wines of the 2007 and 2008 vintages in Champagne are sitting unsold in the cellars? Are we now selling vintage champagne en premier?
In case any of you might not follow my drift, when is the earliest that vintage Champagne from a given harvest can be sold to the trade? When can nonvintage be sold?
Are we reaching for bad news here?
John Trombley
Interesting when this warning comes only a few months after Champagne region was authorized to increase its INAO-approved surface to other than presently approved Terroirs. What does Champagne want?
Bernard Portet
Does this mean their normal yields are 15-18 t/Ha? This surely is a massive crop for a premium wine. No other French appellation allows such yields.
Anthony Miceli, Melbourne, Australia
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