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The Comité Champagne has set the yield per hectare for 2022 at 12,000 kg. This is the highest value for ten years. The reason for the increase of 20 per cent compared to 2021 is the small harvest of the previous year and the thus shrunken reserves, which meet increasing demand. The president of the Union des Maisons de Champagne and co-president of the Comité Champagne, David Chatillon, says: "In the first half of 2022, we sold 130 million bottles, which is an increase of 14 percent compared to the first half of 2021. For 2022, we expect 325 million bottles. This level of yield has also been decided to increase the stock. It is currently at 3.5 years". According to the Comité Champagne, the optimal value is 3.8 years.
The Comité Champagne is also introducing a new system of individual reserve wines (IR), also called "reserve credit". This aims to achieve the set marketable target yield each year. For 2022, this is 15,500 kg/ha, but the Comité has applied to the Institut National de l'Origine et de la Qualité (INAO) for permission to raise the target yield to 16,500 kg as an exception to compensate for the previous year's poor harvest. Since hardly any winegrower was able to harvest the permitted 10,000 kg/ha in 2021, this year's permitted quantity is increased by the respective difference. A winegrower who only harvested 6,500 kg per hectare instead of 10,000 kg in 2021 is therefore allowed to harvest 3,500 kg more this year, i.e. 15,500 kg. This "reserve credit" is valid for up to three years. The INAO's decision has to be confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture and is expected to be made soon.
At the moment, it looks like an average potential yield of 14,500 kg/ha. On 20 August, data on the wine harvest will be announced.
(al / Source and photo: Comité Champagne)
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