The Dominion. MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1911. THE CHAMPAGNE RIOTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1103, 17 April 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1911. THE CHAMPAGNE RIOTS.

They are not very many whom the champagne riots in France, involving the destruction of enormous quantities of wine and the possibility of higher prices for wine, will fill with grave anxiety. The chief interest of the scenes of violence recorded during the past few days is for the student of politics, who will be impressed by the fact that, as the Paris correspondent of the Times points out-, large sections of the French people are convinced that the proper way to influence public opinion, Parliament and the Government, is to indulge in sabotage. The champagne nroa in Franco is a small one, and tlie vintage is always very uncertain : after several bad years it culminated last season in a serious lailure. In ordinary times the Uiampagne district can supply, or ,nearly supply, the demand of th« champagne makers, but the bad vintage has greatly stimulated tho pracnce ot importing cheap "alien" wines from outside tigncrons for manufacture. The small rigncrous or the district, who supply the raw wine to the makers, broke forth in noting during January, and the Government proceeded to introduce legis aticn to protect the vigncrons ot Champagne from the competition ot outside wines. The Bill, which was passed on February 10, explained ui the preamble that the historic character of the sparkling Champagne wines and their reputation , abroad were in danger of becorain" [ compromised by the practices of certain unscrupulous manufacturers wno imported into the Champagne , region, as delimited in 1908, wines of any and every brand, and converted them into so-called "champagne." Since tho genuine champagne cannot be adulterated when bottled, and tho Champagne area is small, it was easy to frame the necessary measure of protection. Accordingly it was proposed that the wine in the Champagne district should'bo watched by State officials n'oin the .presses of the growers to the cellars of the manufacturers:; t n at a t ' 1 - c should store all "alien" wines in cellars separate and distinct from the champagne cellars. "Vouchers of origin" were io be issued to the growers and manufacturers of all wine grown in the sacred area, and the name of Champagne" was not to be used for any other sort of wine. The present disturbances have arisen out of the intention of the Government, evidently under pressure _ from th? Department of Aub«, which is excluded from the Champagne area, to abandon the simple plan of delimitation and inspection in favour of stricter anti-adultera-tion laws. So much violence would not have been exhibited by the winegrowers were they not reduced to poverty by the succession of' bad seasons. • They cannot gain anything at present from the system of delimitation and supervision that they fear they are to lose just after gaining it, for they have no wine of their own to sell to the makers of real champagne. One might suppose that since good wine needs no bush, and genuine champagne will always be worth its price, and will be faithfully manufactured; there is little to bo gained by insisting that only the product of Champagne grapes shall bear the champagne label. The growers, however, fear one of two things, perhaps both, namely, that "champagne" made from wines from the Loire is just as good as the real article, or that even if it is not, the foreign consumer's palate cannot be relied upon to distinguish between champagnes and vins mousseux. The second of these ideas is probably very sound, since, in many countries, anything is acourM rhn.mpagne, and revered as champagne, and enthusiastically drunk and admired, which fizzes and costs fifteen shillings a bottle. It was recently calculated that there was a reserve stock of 100,000,000 bottles of champagne in France, but the rioting has accounted for so much of this that it is certain that the price of the wine will rise. But that will not check the demand for it, fortunately for the growers; indeed, in a clay when America's millionaires become more numerous, the demand will increase with the price. A bottle that costs £o will to some people be five times as delicious as it was when it cost a sovereign.