KEY POINTS:
The world wants more bubbly - the real thing that is - and some lucky French grape growers are looking to cash in.
To meet new demand driven by global growth and marketing, the region of Champagne is undergoing its biggest change for decades: a revision and extension of the precious and carefully demarcated land where the wine can be produced and the grapes grown.
Only certain fields are considered fit by the National Institute of Appellations D'Origine, the government body that imposes strict rules on what can be produced where and how in France, for grapes destined to be made into the world's favourite fizzy wine.
The problem is clear to everyone.
"The market is rocketing but there is almost no more land," said Catherine Chamourin of the Champagne Winemakers' Union.
In 2007 the region produced 339 million bottles, 10 times more than in 1950. Its 35,000 hectares are almost all planted.
Supporters of the revision - which include all the major houses such as Moet et Chandon, Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot - say it is about maintaining quality and keeping the price down.
"It is a necessary evolution," said Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, head of Taittinger Champagnes. "Even if we plant an extra 10,000 hectares we will remain a small wine-producing area, much smaller than we were at the end of the 19th century."
But the process is complicated and will go as high as the Council of State, France's highest administrative court.
In the next few months, inspectors will tread thousands of wheatfields to decide if they can be planted with the precious vine.
"In Champagne we turn grapes into gold," said Daniel Lorson of the Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne. "We just hope to have more grapes to make into more gold."
The inspectors' initial survey was published in March.
There were many winners - 40 new villages found themselves within the appellation - and some losers. Two villages found themselves suddenly outside.
The happy, however, gain more than the right to cultivate grapes for champagne. A positive verdict boosts the value of fields from around $8000 per hectare to more than $1.6 million. The biggest winners are the big names such as Taittinger or Moet et Chandon who will exploit the surging global demand.
But there are fears. According to Chamourin, some worry that more vines will mean a lower price for grapes and thus less cash for the farmers - and higher profit margins for the producers. But the subject is extremely sensitive. Few are prepared to criticise openly.
In the village of Orbais l'Abbaye, which was stripped of the precious champagne label in March, Pierre-Yves Jardel, the mayor, now claims he was misquoted last month by Le Monde as saying that "champagne [had] brought nothing" to his village.
- OBSERVER
