Champagne in the future: goodbye to herbicides by 2025 and sustainability in the vineyard by 2030

In recent months, everyone’s attention has been on the ongoing debate over the limits of the use of copper in the vineyard, which the European Commission has established at 4 kilos per hectare per year (and the possibility, however, of using the 28 kilograms provided for the next 7 years at will), while in Champagne 2018 ended with another topic on the table: herbicides. The public debate on the use of glyphosate has never really subsided, and it’s becoming more and more likely that Europe will decide to prohibit the use in agriculture of the molecule placed on the market in 1974 by Monsanto, starting in 2022. It follows, then, that one must make amends, even ahead of time. “The die is cast”, said Jean-Marie Barillère, president of the Union Maisons Champagne, at the year-end assembly of the Comité Champagne, “it is clear where the public debate on glyphosate, which is certainly not the most dangerous molecule in existence, is heading. There is a great possibility that starting from 2022, which in viticulture means tomorrow, it will not be renewed”. At this point, there is only one road to take. “I prefer to look towards an honorable future for Champagne rather than look to the past”, continued Barillère, “in ecological and economic terms as well as in terms of image”. In practice, the road map is quite simple; that is, goodbye to herbicides in 2025 (which could perhaps be included in the production specifications of the designation, although so far no official decision has been made), and certification of sustainability in 100% of the vineyards by 2030, which may not, though, be enough to cancel the carbon footprint that is decreasing, but only by 14% from 2013 to today.