Champagne Riots

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Champagne Riots of 1910 & 1911 resulted from a series of problems faced by grape growers in the Champagne area of France. These included four years of disastrous crop losses, the infestation of the phylloxera louse that destroyed 15,000 acres (61 km²) of vineyards that year alone, low income, and the belief that wine merchants were using grapes from Germany and Spain.

The precipitating event may have been the announcement in 1908 by the French government that it would delimit by decree the exact geographic area that would be granted economic advantage and protection by being awarded the Champagne appellation. This early development of Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée regulation benefitted the Marne and Aisne districts to the significant exclusion of the Aube district which included the town of Troyes-the historic capital of the Champagne region. ^[1]

Following the revolt of growers in the Aube district, the government designated the department as a second zone within the Champagne appellation. This provoked the growers in the Marne region to react violently to their loss of privilege and they lashed out against merchants and producers who they accused of committing wine fraud by using grapes from other regions in their Champagne blend. Thousands of wine growers burned vineyards, destroyed the cellars of wine merchants, and ransacked houses as hundreds of litres of wine was lost. ^[2]

[edit] See also

• French wine

[edit] References

1. ^ R. Phillips A Short History of Wine pg 292 Harper Collins 2000 ISBN 0066212820
2. ^ R. Phillips A Short History of Wine pg 293 Harper Collins 2000 ISBN 0066212820

• Johnson, Hugh. Vintage: The Story of Wine. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1989.