PARIS — Those few venerable vineyards that boast the right to produce real French champagne may be facing competition.
France’s agency in charge of food and drink quality is looking into expanding the strictly defined area where champagne is made, amid growing global demand for its prestigious bubbles – in an industry with $6 billion in sales last year.
“Production is reaching a limit,” said Daniel Lorson of the Champagne Growers Committee. “We are almost entirely covered in vines.”
If the expansion plan gets the go-ahead, it will likely be 2015 before new champagne hits the store shelves, Lorson said.
For 18 months, a group that included a geographer, historian, geologist, agricultural engineer and plant biologist prodded soil in potential new champagne zones, questioned vintners and sampled their wares.
Last month, it submitted a report to the National Institute for Origin and Quality. In February, the institute’s national committee will decide whether – and by how much – to expand the authorized champagne territory.
