In the first major changes to the Champagne region for 80 years, 40 new champagne growing areas were unanimously approved last night while two will be struck off.

Significant increases to champagne volumes are not expected until 2021, but land prices will change overnight.

'If your vines fall on the wrong side of the divide, they will be worth €5,000 a hectare,' Gilles Flutet of L'Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) told French news agency AFP earlier this month.'

'On the other side they will be worth €1m.'

Following last night's decision by the National Committee of INAO, the production zone where grapes can be grown will increase from 319 communes to 357, said Yves Benard, president of the INAO committee on wines and eaux de vie.

Areas in which Champagne can be made and matured will also increase from to 675 communes, from 634.

The names of the new communes will be published over the next 15 days in INAO's official journal.

An enquiry process will follow INAO's announcement, allowing for any objections or recommendations to be reviewed. Both are expected to conclude by the beginning of 2009, but actual planting is not expected to take place until 2015.

As vines take three years to produce grapes and another three years are needed for bottles to mature, the first effects on volumes will not be seen until 2021.

The approval of new producing areas, seen as a response to increasing demand for Champagne, is likely to be viewed as contentious by other producers of sparkling wine, who have long been told that real Champagne can only be made in the area laid out by the 1927 laws.

INAO said the demand for a revision of the Champagne growing area dates back to 2003, and came from the Syndicat Général des Vignerons de Champagne, driven by the need for greater fairness in dealing with demands for revisions to the existing area.

The current growing area of 33,500ha was defined in 1908. A definitive law was passed in 1927, based on local winemaking traditions. This was further backed up by technical criteria laid down by INAO in 1984.

A team of five people were chosen to select the new areas - a geologist, a climatologist, a vine technician and a plant expert.
quelle: www.decanter.com

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beide fl. recht kurze korken, direkt nach dem öffnen probiert,

sauvignon blanc: sehr offen, sehr reife gelbe & grüne früchte, kiwi, grapefruit, limone, stachelbeere, brennesssel, weisser pfeffer, frisches schnittlauch, sehr tief & komplex, mit mehr luft kommen auch blumige aromen, hauch rosen & veilchen. am gaumen knackige säure, kraftvoll, aber auch wieder schlank & mit rasse, wirkt mineralisch, granny smith, kräftige zitrusaromen, hauch pfeffer, stachelbeere & kiwi, gewisse härte, nicht die tiefe wie die nase, mittlerer bis langer abgang dem explizit die länge fehlt, ABER: man muss einen cloudy bay sauv-blanc nicht innert 2 jahren trinken!!

2 std.: wird ein bisschen offener & verliert dadurch etwas an härte - säure ist "wirkt" reifer & runder,  frucht geht etwas zurück, hauch länger im abgang.

2 tag:

chardonnay: sehr offen, viel geröstetes brot, brotteig, holzofenbrot, haselnüsse, erinnert an reifen champagner, oxidationsnote die aber gut "passt",  hauch orangenmarmelade, hauch botrytis. am gaumen frisch, aromatik wie nase, voll aber auch mit rasse - -die säure teilt den wein etwas, deutlich länger als der s-b, langer abgang mit gerösteten haselnüssen, ein wein der nicht jedem liegen wird.

2 std.: bleibt nahezu unverändert, wirkt etwas besser verwoben,

2 tag:

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Exports of Champagne grew for the seventh year in succession - and reached a record high last year.

Total export shipments of Champagne grew by 7.3% in 2007 to reach a new all time record of 150.9m bottles, compared to 140.7m bottles in 2006. This is the seventh consecutive year that exports have grown.

Worldwide shipments - which include France - were up 5.3% to a new absolute record of 338.7m bottles, finally surpassing the 'false' pre-millennium shipment level of 327m bottles recorded in 1999.

There were many more shipments than sales in 1999. In the following year – 2000 – this led to the only dip in shipments seen in the past 14 years.

Despite worries of a slowdown in sales, growth in the UK was stronger than in 2006, rising 5.9% to 38.7m bottles, also a new record - the largest volume growth among the top ten markets.

Shipments to China rose 30.4% - but that was still only just over half a million (656,208) bottles.

In terms of percentage growth the biggest increase among the top ten markets came from Spain, up 27.5% to 4.6m bottles, following a 26.7% jump in 2006.

In general, the traditional developed European markets performed better than markets outside Europe.

Europe was up 9% overall, while markets outside Europe increased by an average of 4.7%.

The exception was Japan, which continued its recent strong growth.

Exports there rose by 14.4% to 9.2m bottles, although this is slower rate of increase than the 34.9% achieved in 2006.

Japan maintains its position in terms of volume as the sixth most important market, closing the gap on Belgium.

In terms of value, Japan is already the fourth most important export market ahead of Belgium and Germany.

Among the top ten markets only the USA showed a decline, down 6.2% to 21.7m bottles.
quelle: www.decanter.com

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