The Champagne Riots of 1910 and 1911

At the turn of the century, wine grape growers in the Champagne region were still struggling with low yield harvests and trying to rebuild vineyards after the Great French Wine Blight that struck France in the 1860’s. While the vineyards were re-planted, the vines struggled with mold, mildew, excessive rains, flooding and hail as early frosts affected the harvests in the early 1900’s. During this time, the wine houses in the region began importing grapes from other wine regions in France and Europe to continue their wine production thanks to the expansion of the French railway that made transportation of wine grapes fast and reliable. Not only were the wine grape growers concerned that imported grapes could not make wines that adequately represented the Champagne region, they were also concerned with the low prices the wine houses were buying the grapes for.

Although the government imposed a regulation stating that wines from the region had to use a majority of local grapes, illegal imports of less expensive grapes continued. Tensions came to a peak when the wine houses tried to impose the lower prices of imported grapes to the local growers and violence ensued as growers intercepted a truckload of imported grapes. The truck was overturned in the river, people were fighting in the streets, looting and setting fire to wine houses and wine merchant shops. The violence continued until troops were deployed by the French government to enforce the peace.

Although tensions continued until the start of World War I, it wasn’t until after that war that growers and wine houses began working together with the Government to define the Champagne region and the wines produced from the region that could be labelled as "Champagne" under the regulations of the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée