Champagne Riots

The precipitating event may have been the announcement in 1908 by the French government that it would delimit by decree the exact geographic area that would be granted economic advantage and protection by being awarded the Champagne appellation.

The early vintages of the 20th century were difficult, due to frost and rains severely reducing the crop yields.

The Champenois vine growers were incensed at these practices, believing that using "foreign" grapes to make sparkling wine was not producing true Champagne.

With vineyard owners vastly outnumbering the producers, the Champagne houses used this dynamic of excess supply vs limited demand to their advantage.

Some commissionaires openly sought bribes, often in the form of extra grapes, from vine growers to which they would sell themselves for profit.

The prices they were able to negotiate rarely covered the cost of farming and harvesting which left many Champenois vine growers in poverty.

The owner of Achille Perrier found his house surrounded by an angry mob chanting "A bas les fraudeurs" (Down with cheats).

The French Government tried to answer the vine growers concerns by passing legislation defining where Champagne wine was to come from.

The glaring exclusion of the Aube region, where Troyes, the historic capital of Champagne, is located, promoted further discontent as the Aubois protested the decision.

The government, trying to avoid any further violence and disruption, sought a "compromise solution" by designating the department as a second zone within the Champagne appellation.

This provoked the growers in the Marne region to react violently to their loss of privilege and they lashed out again against merchants and producers who they accused of making wine from "foreign grapes"—including those from the Aube.

Only wines produced from grapes grown within the geographical boundaries (that included the Marne, Aube and parts of the Aisne departments) could be entitled to the name Champagne.