Champagne Riots - Early Seeds of Discontent

Early Seeds of Discontent

The seeds of discontent that eventually led to the riots were planted during the 19th century. The early vintages of the 20th 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. Champagne's growing popularity, as well as the lack of grape supply in Champagne, encouraged the Champagne houses to look outside the Champagne region for a cheaper supply of grapes. Some producers began using grapes from as far away as Germany and Spain. 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 from these faux Champagnes.The Champenois vine growers were incensed at these practices, believing that using "foreign" grapes to make sparkling wine was not producing true Champagne. They petitioned the government for assistance and a law was based requiring that at least 51% of the grapes used to make Champagne needed to come from the Champagne region itself.

Collusion was practised 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 cheaply enough they will continue to source grapes from outside the region. With vineyard owners vastly outnumbering the producers, the Champagne houses used this dynamic of excess supply vs limited demand to their advantage. They hired operatives, known as commissionaires, to negotiate prices with vine growers. These commissionaires were paid according to how low of a price they could negotiate and many employed unsavory tactics to achieve their means—including using violence and intimidation. Some commissionaires openly sought bribes, often in the form of extra grapes, from vine growers to which they would sell themselves for extra profit. The prices they were able to negotiate rarely covered the cost of farming and harvesting which left many Champenois vine growers in poverty. Champenois vineyard owners found themselves in a situation where that they were being paid less for fewer grapes. Poverty was widespread.