New Champagne appellation area due to be revealed in 2026

Published by Vitisphere on March 29th – this quick read is about a review of the land appellation for champagne. This could mean additional villages are recognised, or not. I’m glad this is taking some years to resolve, I think it would be a shame if boundary changes caused some producers to be left out.

C.

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"It's making progress”, assures Maxime Toubart, chairman of the Champagne winegrowers’ association (SGV). The stakes for the review of the Champagne appellation area are high, with an average price per hectare in excess of one million euros. Suffice it to say that the issue is therefore coming under close scrutiny. Some would prefer that it did not materialise, as scarcity is easier to manage than a hypothetical increase in global consumption. For others, Champagne has always been able to manage its growth.

Launched in 2005, the review has yet to be completed. The panel of experts appointed by the national institute for origin and quality (INAO) began its appraisal out in the field in 2013, aimed at validating that the blocks of land within the appellation area genuinely deserve to be there and defining which ones could be included.

“We are consulting with INAO”, continues Toubart. “For instance, we would like to incorporate the effects of climate change. We can see certain plots of land facing south that suffer from drought in dry years. What will happen in thirty years’ time? We are currently working on a schedule. The project for the new area should be presented in 2026”.