French to uncork lift in bubbly production

French plans to expand the Champagne vineyards region for the first time in almost a century were today expected to be fast-tracked to go ahead next year after yet another Christmas
of record bubbly sales.

French Champagne houses are convinced they must expand the exclusive area that qualifies for Champagne status.

Billions of pounds in land and future sales of the world's most romantic wine are at stake.

In the year to August 2007, production from the 35,000 hectares of the Champagne region hit 333 million bottles — 11 million more than during the previous year. But demand is rising far more
quickly in major consuming countries such as the UK, where sales from High Street shops and supermarkets are expected to be up by between 20% and 40% for the year when the figures are
collated in January.

Under French law, the only sparkling wine anywhere in the world that merits the name Champagne with a capital C must be made from grapes grown on officially designated plots of land. The specifications have not been tampered
with in a major way since they were laid down in 1927.

But Champagne-producing houses now want guaranteed long-term access to more of the pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier vines that are used to make the real thing. Farmers and
landowners who are not on Champagne designated
land hope to join the exclusive club of insiders.

French government-appointed experts drew up a secret list last October designating 40 communities — communes — for possible addition to the 319 communes with the designation Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée.

A heated debate is raging, but wine experts now say it is inevitable the expansion will go ahead towards the end of 2008, making the first crop available by 2011, thus raising production in the
£4-billion-a-year industry in the short term to about 430 million bottles.

The value of farmland for Champagne grape-growing is at least 200 times more than that of land where crops such as wheat and beets grow,
according to Daniel Lorson, spokesman for the Interprofessional Committee of the Wines of Champagne, a trade organisation.

Tom Stevenson, the British author of World Encyclopedia of Champagne and Sparkling Wine, estimated that between 3000 and 12,000 acres will be added. He said that could create up to almost £5 billion of wealth for landowners.

Stevenson, recognised as the world's leading authority on the wines of Champagne and Alsace, said: "Since plans for 40 new communes emerged, the Champenois have been accused of greed by the press and hypocrisy by consumers.

"However, even at this late stage, it is possible for Champagne to avoid most of flak, and produce a squeaky clean expansion."

Demand for bubbly has been outstripped by supply for the past decade with Champagne imitators from Russia, India and even the UK filling the
gap.