History of champagne

The history of champagne began when the Romans planted vineyards in this region of northeast France in the 5th century, or possibly earlier. Over centuries, champagne evolved from being a pale, pinkishstill wine to a sparkling wine. When Hugh Capet was crowned King of France in 987 at the cathedral of Reims, he started a tradition that brought successive monarchs to the region—with the local wine being on prominent display at the coronation banquets. The early wine of the Champagne region was a pale, pinkish wine made from Pinot noir.^[1]

The Champenois were envious of the reputation of the wines made from their Burgundian neighbours to the south and sought to produce wines of equal acclaim. However the northerly climate of the region gave the Champenois a unique set of challenges in making red wine. At the far extremes of sustaining viticulture, the grapes would struggle to ripen fully and often would have bracing levels of acidity and low sugar levels. The wines were lighter bodied and thinner than the Burgundies.^[1]

Furthermore, the cold winter temperatures prematurely halted fermentation in the cellars, leaving dormant yeast cells that would awaken in the warmth of spring and start fermenting again. One of the byproducts of fermentation is the release of carbon dioxide gas, which, if the wine is bottled, is trapped inside the wine, causing intense pressure. The pressure inside the weak, early French wine bottles often caused the bottles to explode, creating havoc in the cellars. If the bottle survived, the wine was found to contain bubbles, something that the early Champenois were horrified to see, considering it a fault. As late as the 17th century, Champenois wine makers, most notably the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon (1638–1715), were still trying to rid their wines of the bubbles.^[1]

While the Champenois and their French clients preferred their champagne to be pale and still, the British were developing a taste for the unique bubbly wine. The sparkling version of champagne continued to grow in popularity, especially among royalty and the wealthy. Following the death of Louis XIV of France in 1715, the court of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans made the sparkling version of champagne a favorite among the French nobility. More Champenois wine makers attempted to make their wines sparkle deliberately, but did not know enough about how to control the process or how to make wine bottles strong enough to withstand the pressure.^[1]

In the 19th century these obstacles were overcome, and the modern champagne wine industry took form. Advances by the house of Veuve Clicquot in the development of the méthode champenoise made production of sparkling wine on a large scale profitable, and this period saw the founding of many of today's famous champagne houses, including Krug (1843), Pommery (1858) and Bollinger (1829). The fortunes of the Champenois and the popularity of champagne grew until a series of setbacks in the early 20th century. Phylloxera appeared, vineyard growers rioted in 1910–11, the Russian and American markets were lost because of the Russian Revolution and Prohibition, and two World Wars made the vineyards of Champagne a battlefield.^[1]

The modern era, however, has seen a resurgence of the popularity of champagne, a wine associated with both luxury and celebration, with sales quadrupling since 1950. Today the region's 86,500 acres (35,000 ha) produces over 200 million bottles of champagne with worldwide demand prompting the French authorities to look into expanding the region's Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone to facilitate more production.^[1]

The Romans were the first known inhabitants to plant vineyards in the Champagne region. The name Champagne comes from the Latincampania and referred to the similarities between the rolling hills of the province and the Italian countryside of Campania located south of Rome. The area was divided into the Champagne pouilleuse—the chalky, barren plains east of Reims—and Champagne viticole, the forested hillside region known as the Montagne de Reims between Reims and the Marne river where the vines were planted. While vineyards were undoubtedly planted earlier, the first recorded vineyard belonged to St. Remi in the 5th century. For most of the region's early history, the wines from Champagne were not known as "Champagne" or even vin de Champagne. Rather they were known as vins de Reims and vins de la rivère in reference to the Marne river which provided a vital trade route via the Seine with Paris. Champagne's location at the crossroads of two major trading routes, one east–west between Paris and the Rhineland and the other north–south between Flanders and Switzerland, would bring the region and its wines much prosperity and notoriety but would also play a pivotal role in Champagne being the site of countless battles and occupations.^[1]

En 987, Hugo Capeto fue coronado rey de Francia en la catedral de Reims. En el banquete de coronación, se sirvieron los vinos locales de la región. La ciudad pasó a ser conocida como la capital espiritual de Francia y, durante los siguientes ocho siglos, los monarcas siguieron la tradición de Capeto y celebraron sus coronaciones en Reims. ^{[ 1 ]} La asociación de la región con la realeza contribuyó en gran medida a realzar la reputación de sus vinos. En el siglo XVI, el pueblo de Ay , situado al sur de Reims, era ampliamente aclamado por la calidad de su vino, y el rey Francisco I se proclamó «Roi d'Aÿ et de Gonesse » —rey de las tierras donde se producían los mejores vinos y harinas del país— . Tal era la reputación de los vinos de Ay que se les conocía como los vinos de Francia , y su calidad representaba a todo el país, no solo a una región. Finalmente, el nombre de Ay se convirtió en una referencia abreviada para referirse a todos los vinos de la región de Champaña. (De forma similar a como hoy en día se utilizan los términos Burdeos o Beaune para referirse a los vinos de las regiones de Gironda y Borgoña , respectivamente). ^{[ 2 ]}

During the Middle Ages, the wines of the Champagne region were various shades of light red to pale pink as a bitter rivalry developed between the Champenois and their Burgundian neighbors to the south. The trade route that Flemish merchants used to get to the Burgundy went right through Reims and the Champenois were eager to entice their business with a "cheaper" alternative. Unfortunately the climate of the region made it difficult to produce red wines with the richness and color of the Burgundian wines, even though the Champenois tried to "improve" their wines by blending in elderberries. Eventually their attention moved to produce white wines in an attempt to distinguish themselves from their Burgundian rivals. However, the white wine produced from white grapes were found to have a dull flavor and quickly spoiled. The most sought after wines were those "white wines" made from red wine grapes, such as Pinot noir which had more flavor, aromatics and longevity. Throughout the 16th and early 17th century, Champenois winemakers tried to produce the best "white" wine they could from red wines grapes though the results were often not white at all but ranged from greyish color to a shade of pink known as oeil de perdrix or partridge eye. It was not until a Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Perignon from the Abbey of Hautvillers perfected his techniques would the Champenois be able to truly make white wine from red grapes.^[2]

Blanquette de Limoux, from Languedoc, shows up in writings from as early as 1531 by the Abbey monks of Saint-Hilaire.^[3]

Dom Pérignon

After being destroyed during the French Wars of Religion, the Benedictine Abbey at Hautvillers was rebuilt and replanted its vineyards. By 1661, the Abbey had 25 acres (10 ha) of vineyards, but was also receiving tithes in the form of grapes from nearby villages, including the highly regarded vineyards of Ay and Avenay-Val-d'Or. The Abbot commissioned the construction of a cellar and sought to hire a treasurer and cellar master to help develop the Abbey's growing winemaking operation. In 1668, Pierre Perignon was appointed to the position. Described by his predecessor, Dom Groussard, and Canon Godinot as a perfectionist, Perignon worked diligently to improve the viticultural practices of Abbey's vineyards and the quality of the wines. He was a strong advocate of using only Pinot noir grapes which he believed had the best flavor and potential quality. At the time, the vineyards of the region were planted with a variety of grapes including Pinot noir, Chasselas, Pinot blanc, Pinot gris, Pinot Meunier and perhaps Chardonnay. Most important, in Dom Pérignon's mind, was that red grapes like Pinot noir were less likely to become "volatile" in the spring and produce bubbles as the white grapes sometimes did. The presence of bubbles in his wines was considered a fault and Dom Pérignon set out to develop precise techniques to limit the likelihood of this fault occurring.^[2]

Dom Pérignon was a staunch advocate of aggressive pruning, dictating that vines should grow no higher than 1 metre (3 ft) and produce small yields. Harvesting was to be done early in the morning, when it was very cool, and every care was to be taken to keep the grapes intact. Grapes that were bruised or broken were rejected. Mules and donkeys were favored over horses to transport the grapes to the press houses since they were less likely to get excited and possibly damage the grapes. Dom Pérignon desired the grapes to be pressed as quickly and efficiently as possible to minimize the possibility of the grapeskins leaching into the juice. A distinction was made between the different levels of pressings. The first press, done completely by the weight of the grapes on top of each other, produced the highest quality wine, known as the vin de goutte. The second and third pressings, done with weight being applied, produced wine of good but not exceptional quality. The fourth and fifth pressings, the vin de taille and vins de pressoir, were of darker colors and would not be used at all. In addition to adding the pinkish/grey coloring, Dom Pérignon knew that the skins imparted different flavoring and coarser textures than he wanted in his high quality wines. His emphasis on limiting skin contact helped the Abbey of Hautvillers to produce truly white wine from red wine grapes.^[2]

As a wealthy and powerful nation with limited winemaking resources, England had a marked influence on the development of sparkling Champagne. Non-sparkling Champagne became popular in London society following the arrival of epicureanCharles de Saint-Évremond in 1661. At parties and banquets, Saint-Évremond feverishly promoted the wines of the Champagne region. Soon some of the most powerful and fashionable men of London, such as the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Buckingham as well as the Earl of Arlington were making regular orders of cases of Champagne. The wine was non-sparkling, or at least it was intended to be.^[2] Wine was often transported to England in wooden wine barrels and merchant houses would then bottle the wine for sale. During the 17th century, English glassmakers used coal-fueled ovens and produced stronger, more durable glass bottles than wood-fired French glass. The English also rediscovered the use of cork stoppers, once used by the Romans but forgotten for centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. During the cold winters of the Champagne region, temperatures would drop so low that the fermentation process was prematurely halted, leaving some residual sugar and dormant yeast. When the wine was shipped to and bottled in England, the fermentation process would restart when the weather warmed and the cork-stoppered wine would begin to build pressure from carbon dioxide gas. When the wine was opened, it would be bubbly.^[4]

The English were among the first who saw the tendency of Champagne to sparkle as a desirable trait, and tried to understand why it did bubble. In 1662, the English scientist Christopher Merret presented a paper detailing how the presence of sugar in a wine led to it eventually sparkling, and that nearly any wine could be made to sparkle by adding sugar to a wine before bottling it. This is one of the first known accounts of understanding the process of sparkling wine and suggests that British merchants were producing "sparkling Champagne" even before the French Champenois were deliberately making it.^[4] Concurrently, advances in glass manufacture in Britain, by George Ravenscroft and others, allowed more robust wine bottle to be made which could contain the effervescence without exploding.^[5] The popularity of sparkling Champagne steadily grew. In 1663, the British poet Samuel Butler penned the first written English reference to "brisk" (i.e. frothy) Champagne in his poem Hudibras. The 1698 George Farquhar play Love and a Bottle featured one of the characters marveling at the steady stream of bubbles in a glass of a Champagne. As the popularity of sparkling Champagne grew in London, other European courts began to discover the bubbly curiosity-including the French who had previously despised the bubbles as a wine fault.^[2]

Tras la muerte de Luis XIV en 1715, su sobrino Felipe II, duque de Orleans, se convirtió en regente de Francia. El duque de Orleans disfrutaba de la versión espumosa del champán y la incluía en sus petits soupers nocturnos en el Palais-Royal . Esto desató una moda en París, ya que los restaurantes y la alta sociedad intentaron imitar el gusto del duque por el vino espumoso. Los viticultores de Champaña comenzaron a cambiar su producción de vinos tranquilos a espumosos para aprovechar esta moda. ^{[ 2 ]} A lo largo del siglo XVIII, surgieron casas de champán , creando una nueva dinámica comercial en la región. En lugar de que los pequeños productores o los monasterios produjeran la mayor parte del vino, las casas privadas o los comerciantes que compraban uvas a los propietarios de viñedos para elaborar champán llegaron a dominar el mercado. Las casas de Moët & Chandon , Louis Roederer , Piper-Heidsieck y Taittinger fueron algunas de las principales que se fundaron durante este período. Cada casa contrató agentes de ventas para llevar muestras de su vino a las cortes reales de toda Europa, mientras competían entre sí por cuotas del creciente mercado del champán. ^{[ 6 ]}

Sin embargo, a finales del siglo XVIII, la producción de vino rosado no espumoso aún representaba más del 90% de la producción de la región de Champagne. ^{[ 6 ]} La Revolución Francesa y las posteriores Guerras Napoleónicas descarrilaron temporalmente el auge de popularidad del Champagne. Para salvar a algunos de sus clientes nobles de la guillotina, los comerciantes de Champagne alteraron los registros comerciales reemplazando los títulos de sus clientes por "Ciudadano". A medida que muchos nobles huían a otros países, los comerciantes hicieron todo lo posible para asegurarse de que las cajas de su Champagne favorito los siguieran. Durante las Guerras Napoleónicas, los puertos europeos fueron sometidos a un flujo interminable de bloqueos y contrabloqueos. Agentes de ventas como Louis Bohne de Veuve Clicquot idearon planes creativos para contrabandear sus vinos a sus clientes. Los agentes incluso intentaron convertir tanto la victoria como la derrota en oportunidades de venta. Durante la invasión de Rusia por parte de Napoleón , Charles-Henri Heidsieck viajó a caballo por delante del Ejército Imperial Francés en su camino a Moscú. Armada con cajas de champán, Heidsieck estaba preparada para hacer negocios con quien resultara vencedor. Tras la derrota de Napoleón , la región de Champaña fue ocupada por las fuerzas rusas. Durante la ocupación, el champán se utilizó como requisición y tributo. Mientras vaciaban su bodega, se dice que la viuda Cliquot exclamó: «Hoy beben. Mañana pagarán». ^{[ 6 ]} Sus palabras resultarían proféticas, pues durante el siglo siguiente, hasta la Revolución Rusa de 1917, el Imperio Ruso sería el segundo mayor consumidor de champán del mundo. ^{[ 7 ]}

Las raíces de la industria moderna del champán se sentaron durante la Revolución Industrial , que supuso grandes avances en la comprensión del método de elaboración del vino espumoso y mejoras en la tecnología necesaria para que la producción fuera más viable económicamente. El científico francés Jean-Antoine Chaptal popularizó la idea de que el champán burbujeaba porque se sellaba en una botella antes de que la fermentación estuviera completa. Además, señaló que era el azúcar del vino el que facilitaba este proceso de fermentación, dando lugar a las burbujas. Junto con las burbujas venía la intensa presión del dióxido de carbono, que podía provocar la explosión de las botellas. ^{[ 1 ]} La perturbación causada por la desintegración de una botella podía provocar una reacción en cadena, siendo habitual que las bodegas perdieran entre el 20 % y el 90 % de sus botellas por inestabilidad. ^{[ 8 ]} El método británico de fabricación de vidrio con carbón contribuyó a que se dispusiera de botellas de vino más resistentes que pudieran soportar mejor la presión del dióxido de carbono. En la década de 1830, un farmacéutico de Châlons-sur-Marne llamado André François describió fórmulas con medidas precisas de la cantidad de azúcar necesaria para que un vino burbujeara sin generar más presión de la que la botella podía soportar. Las máquinas de corcho y los corchos mejorados facilitaron el sellado del vino, reduciendo la posibilidad de que el preciado gas se escapara de la botella. ^{[ 1 ]}

Un avance importante a principios del siglo XIX fue el desarrollo de una técnica para eliminar el sedimento causado por la levadura muerta tras la segunda fermentación. Los primeros productores de champán optaron por no eliminar el sedimento, lo que provocaba que el vino se volviera turbio y propenso a sabores extraños si el sedimento se agitaba o se vertía en la copa. En las cortes reales y los banquetes, los camareros servían una nueva porción de champán en una copa limpia para evitar los residuos de sedimento que quedaban en la copa anterior. Para eliminar el sedimento, algunos productores decantaban el vino vertiéndolo en una botella nueva. Sin embargo, este proceso provocaba la fuga de una cantidad considerable de dióxido de carbono y el vino resultante tenía notablemente menos burbujas. Con la ayuda de su maestro bodeguero, Madame Clicquot , de la casa de champán Veuve Clicquot, desarrolló el proceso de remoción a principios del siglo XIX para solucionar el problema del sedimento sin perder mucho gas. Esta técnica, que consiste en recoger el sedimento en el cuello de la botella y utilizar la presión del vino para expulsarlo, dio lugar a la popularidad de añadir azúcar para compensar la pérdida de vino durante la remoción. Los rusos, en particular, eran aficionados al champán muy dulce, y Veuve Cliquot podía ajustar el nivel de dulzor de sus vinos a las preferencias de sus clientes mediante la composición de su dosificación. Al principio, la casa Veuve Cliquot intentó mantener en secreto esta técnica de remoción, pero a finales de la década de 1820 el secreto se reveló y las casas de champán comenzaron a establecer líneas de producción para la remoción. En 1854, el sistema ferroviario nacional francés conectó Reims con el resto del país, incluidos sus puertos costeros. A partir de ese momento, el champán se conectó con su mercado mundial y las ventas crecieron a pasos agigantados. Durante la década de 1850, la producción promediaba 20 millones de botellas al año. ^{[ 6 ]}

By the end of the 19th century, Champagne was making its mark and embedding itself into popular culture. The early 20th century brought its share of challenges. Some of the seeds of these challenges were planted during the century before when Champagne's growing popularity encouraged Champagne houses to look outside the Champagne region for a cheaper supply of grapes. The French railway system made it easy for truckloads of grapes from the Loire Valley or Languedoc to be transported to Champagne at prices nearly half of what the houses were paying Champenois vine growers for their grapes. Newspapers published rumors of some houses buying rhubarb from England to make wine from. With hardly any laws in place to protect the vine grower or the consumer, Champagne houses had most of the power in the region to profit off of these faux Champagnes. To compound the misery for Champenois vine growers, the last few vintages of the 19th century were difficult with frost and rains severely reducing the crop yields. The phylloxera epidemic that ravaged vineyards across France was finally making its way to Champagne. The harvests between 1902 and 1909 were further troubled by mold and mildew. The 1910 vintages was particularly troublesome with hailstorms and flooding. Nearly 96% of the crop was lost.^[10]

In 1917 Russia, the October Revolution saw massive prohibition of Champagne as an imported beverage. Based on Karl Marx's communist manifesto, a class system of beverages was instituted into Russian life. Gone were the days of Champagne and imported luxury beverages, in was the drink of the proletariat, Vodka. A drink for the Russian populace, by the Russian populace without foreign interference. "Да здравствует наша русская земля", or "Long live our Russian Land" in English, could be heard from beer hall to beer hall as victorious party members celebrated the fall of the Tsars. These sanctions were eventually eased during the 1970s with the de-stalinization efforts of Nikita Khrushchev's successor government.

Along with the introduction of the New Economic Policy the Soviet government decreed in 1924 domestic production of sparkling and dessert wines for the masses. First bottle of Soviet Champagne (Советское Шампанское) was produced in 1937 using technology very similar to method Charmat of Asti. Not bound by the international trade mark laws and AOP rules the USSR produced in 1970s 249 million bottles of Soviet Champagne per year. Ultimately, the French Champagne saw its mass introduction back into the Russian beverage scene with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991.

Collusion was practiced among various Champagne houses in order to drive down the prices of grapes to as a low as they would go, with the ever-present threat that if the houses could not get their grapes for cheap enough they would continue to source grapes from outside the region. Champenois vineyard owners found themselves in a situation where they were being paid less for fewer grapes. Poverty was widespread. In January 1911, frustrations reached their boiling point as riots erupted in the towns of Damery and Hautvilliers. Champenois vine growers intercepted trucks with grapes from the Loire Valley and pushed them into the Marne river. They then descended upon the warehouses of producers known to produce faux Champagne, tossing more wine and barrels into the Marne. The French Government tried to answer the vine growers' concerns by passing legislation defining where Champagne wine was to come from. This early legislation dictated that the Marnedepartment and a few villages from the Aisne department were the only areas approved to grow grapes for Champagne production. The glaring exclusion of the Aube region, where the historic capital of Champagne—Troyes—is located, promoted further discontent as the Aubois protested the decision. The Aube, located south of the Marne, was closer to the Burgundy region in terms of soil and location. The growers of the Marne viewed the region as "foreign" and not capable of producing true Champagne but the Aubois viewed themselves as Champenois and clung to their historical roots. The government eventually reversed themselves and included the Aube-much to the dismay of vine growers in the Marne who vigorously protested the decision. More riots erupted and the region was on the brink of civil war. As the government fumbled for an answer that would appease both parties, World War I erupted and those issues had to be set aside as the entire country braced itself for war.^[10]

World War I and II

La ubicación estratégica de Champaña cerca del Frente Occidental provocó que los vinos de Champaña cruzaran las líneas hacia tierra de nadie . Si bien varias bodegas y viñedos de Champaña fueron abandonados, muchos champenos permanecieron y se refugiaron en las crayères subterráneas o cavernas de piedra caliza donde a menudo se añeja el champán, para escapar del bombardeo de la artillería alemana. La famosa catedral de Reims fue prácticamente destruida por los alemanes, junto con muchos otros edificios de la región. Los viñedos se convirtieron en un páramo de hoyos y cráteres de bombas tras las numerosas batallas y ofensivas que se libraron en la zona. Aun así, algunos champenos perseveraron en la producción de champán durante las difíciles cosechas de la Primera Guerra Mundial (1914-1917). Para cuando terminó la guerra, la región de Champaña había perdido más de la mitad de su población, y la región de Aisne, por sí sola, perdió casi dos tercios. La producción y los almacenes de champán quedaron completamente destruidos, al igual que muchos viñedos. ^{[ 11 ]}

The devastation of the war did bring a silver lining. In 1919, the French government passed a series of laws that would lay the groundwork for the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) system that would strictly define winemaking laws and regional boundaries. Measures were taken to eliminate fraud and illegal additives such as rhubarb and apple juice. Only grapes grown from the delineated Champagne region, which would eventually include the Aube, could be legally called "Champagne". The decimation of the region's vineyards provided the opportunity for vine growers to replant with phylloxera resistant rootstock and in more ideal locations for quality grape production.^[12] But amidst this silver lining, more dark clouds would emerge as the full effects of the Russian Revolution hit home and the lucrative Russian market was closed to Champagne imports. The 1920 declaration of prohibition in the United States closed off yet another market and the global economic downturn of the Great Depression lead to a further decrease in sales. World War II would bring more troops marching through the vineyards of Champagne. While the devastation brought to the region was not as severe as the previous war, World War II was still a troubling time for the region. It was in Reims, on May 7, 1945, that the German military commander Alfred Jodl offered an unconditional surrender to the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The following morning, the signing was celebrated with 6 cases of the 1934 vintage of Pommery. Wine historians Don and Petie Kladstrup noted that a World War II historian would later comment that "the last explosions of the war were the popping of Champagne corks".^[13]

To the modern day

Tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial, las ventas y la popularidad del champán volvieron a dispararse. Durante las décadas de la posguerra, las casas de champán modernizaron gradualmente sus métodos de producción. En este contexto, Laurent-Perrier adoptó tanques de fermentación de acero inoxidable —una de las primeras casas en hacerlo— que permitieron un mejor control de la temperatura durante la fermentación y aseguraron un proceso de fermentación más consistente y uniforme . Desde 1950, las ventas han crecido de forma constante, cuadruplicándose en total hasta superar los 200 millones de botellas. El aumento de la demanda mundial ha impulsado a las autoridades francesas a estudiar la expansión de la zona AOC de la región para facilitar una mayor producción. En 2008, esta expansión fue aprobada y se añadieron 40 pueblos más a la producción de champán (mientras que se eliminaron 2 pueblos de la lista) para aumentar la AOC en aproximadamente un 30%. ^{[ 1 ]} Todavía existe la dinámica comercial entre los viticultores y las casas de champán, con la mayoría de los 19.000 viticultores de la región vendiendo sus uvas a las casi 300 casas de champán en producción. Con el tiempo, el champán se ha convertido no solo en un reflejo del terruño de la región de Champaña, sino también en una marca en sí misma, y ​​los habitantes de Champaña defienden enérgicamente esa marca y el uso del término "champaña". La popularidad y el éxito del champán han inspirado a muchos imitadores en todo el mundo (como el cava en España, el sekt en Alemania y varios vinos espumosos estadounidenses), pero también dentro de la propia Francia con los crémant espumosos . El nombre "champaña" es una denominación de origen protegida en la Unión Europea y todos los vinos producidos y vendidos en la UE deben cumplir con esos estándares y no pueden etiquetarse como "champaña" a menos que provengan de la AOC Champagne (en Estados Unidos existe una laguna legal para términos semigenéricos ). En 1985, el uso del término " método champenoise " también fue prohibido, y los productores de vino espumoso "estilo champán" optaron por usar frases como " método tradicional" para indicar que su vino se elabora utilizando los mismos métodos de producción que el champán. ^{[ 4 ]}

Al igual que muchas industrias, debido a la COVID-19 y sus diversas implicaciones, la industria del champán se ha visto afectada en lo que respecta a las ventas ^{[ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ].}