News October 2005

15.-16.19.2005: The winegrowers from the Saint-Thierry area northwest of Rheims - this year the inhabitants of the village of Montigny-sur-Vesle - have completed their eighth celebration of the vineharvest. During that weekend tourists can old skilled trades such as the dégorgement à la volée (the temporary capsule is tipped and switched with the final cork) come alive. Harvestparties however are on the decline. Nobody has the time to receive tourists during the real vineharvest. On top of that you need a minimum of participants for a good party, and nowadays the vinepickers quite often accomodate themselves, which means that they are not even present at the farm for a party.

17.10.2005: The latest numbers from the French agriculture statistics, Agreste, confirms what we alreay know. The vineharvest in Champagne was smaller this year than the year of records, 2004. The numbers for AOC-wines in Champagne in 2005:

	Aisne	Aube	Marne
2005	181.000 hl	506.000 hl	1.928.000 hl
2004	190.000 hl	553.000 hl	2.069.000 hl
Decline	- 5%	- 8%	- 7%

18.10.2005: The 35-year old Italian, Nicola Roni, has been named as the best cellarman in the world in a competition, organized by the house of Laurent-Perrier and held in the home town of same Laurent-Perrier, Tours-sur-Marne. Signor Roni won in front of 5.000 collegues. The Italian reveals to our local newspaper, l'Union, that he especially likes tasting champagnes - fine with us - and that he likes to combine the bubbles with white truffles from Alba and seafood.

19.10.2005: The income of the French luxury group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) grew 12 percent in the first nine months this year compared with the same period last year, writes Just-drink.com. The division of wine- and strong alcohol of LMVH develops fast at the moment. Especially the champagne brands are doing well in the European and Japanese markets, whereas cognac is developing in the US and China.

19.-22.10.2005: The world's biggest exhibition of equipment for sparkling wines - the Viteff in Épernay - has just been completed. We noted stoppers in other materials than cork. Certainly not an ordinary sight on a bottle of champagne. During the time of the exhibition a few awards were granted. There was one for the inventor of biodegradable string to use when tying up the vine in early spring. And another for physicist Gérard Liger-Belair for describing the process of the train de bulles, which is the rather poetic notion of the column of rising bubbles in the glass.

356 stands from France and abroad, all in all 25.000 m2. 16.000 visitors from 22 countries.


New times, new tops for the champagne.

26.10.2005: French luxury group LMVH and a partner want to buy the house of Lanson, writes the Paris-based business newspaper, La Tribune. LMVH has not wanted to comment, but the paper quotes sources, apparently close to the negotiators. The price is guessed to be around 500 million euros. Four other possible buyers are said to be on the list of interesting buyers of the former Marne & Champagne. The current main shareholder of Lanson, the family Mora, says in a press release, that it has received 15 offers from France as well as abroad.

28.10.2005: The income of American-owned Taittinger grew 1,8 percent in the first nine months of 2005, writes Just-drinks.com. However the surplus is not due to the merits of the champagnedivision. On the contrary Taittinger this year lost 2,3 million euros where it made 9,5 million euros in the same period last year. The champagne activities of Taittinger are still up for sale.

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