How Champagne got its borders
From the 1887 court ruling to the 1941 CIVC
The Champagne wine area was first delimited by a decree of 17 December 1908 and fixed in lasting form by the law of 22 July 1927.1 Champagne became an AOC on 29 June 1936, and the joint trade body CIVC was created by law on 12 April 1941.2
1887: a court defines the name
Champagne producers obtained a ruling from the Angers Court of Appeal in 1887: the name "Champagne" refers only to wine from the region.3 The court decided what the name meant, but the region still had no official boundary. More on the name: protecting the name.
1905-1908: the first boundary
The law of 1 August 1905 on fraud laid the first foundations for protecting appellations of origin and left delimitation to the administration.4 The same year, Champagne producers lobbied the Ministry of Agriculture to delimit their vineyard area.3 The law of 5 August 1908 based delimitation on "usages locaux constants", constant local usage; Champagne, Cognac, Armagnac, Banyuls, Clairette de Die and Bordeaux were delimited between 1908 and 1911.4 For Champagne this was the decree of 17 December 1908.1 It left the Aube outside the appellation.5
1911: the riots
Harvests in the Marne had been poor since 1907, hit by phylloxera, frost and storms, while merchants kept buying wine in the Aube, outside the zone.5 In 1911 Marne growers staged "manifestations punitives" against champagne houses, notably in Aÿ and Épernay, and the army suppressed them.5 When the State then banned wine from outside the appellation area, growers in the Aube rioted in turn.5
Source note: this account of 1911 comes from the exhibition bibliography "Champagne !" published by the Bibliothèque nationale de France in 2023, a secondary source. Exact days and other villages involved were not verified.5
1919: appellations go to the courts
The law of 6 May 1919 let courts recognise appellations on the basis of local, loyal and constant usage, and stated that wine appellations can never be considered generic.4
1927: the Champagne viticole
The law of 22 July 1927, which completed the 1919 law, fixed the Champagne viticole and calmed the conflict between the Marne and the Aube.1,5
| Point | Rule in the 1927 law |
|---|---|
| Zone | Territories of the 1908 decree, plus communes of the former province of Champagne and the comté de Bar-sur-Seine that used the name in harvest declarations of 1919-1924, plus Cunfin, Trames and Précy-Saint-Martin in the Aube1 |
| Land | Only land in vines, or planted before phylloxera1 |
| Grapes | Pinot varieties, Arbanne and Petit Meslier; Gamay and other French varieties already planted tolerated for 18 years1 |
| Method | Made sparkling by fermentation in bottle, harvested and fully made within the zone1 |
| Other wines | Bottle-fermented wines from elsewhere may say "méthode champenoise"; tank-fermented wines must say "vins mousseux produits en cuve close"1 |
1935-1936: AOC
The décret-loi of 30 July 1935 created the Comité National des Appellations d'Origine and the AOC system; the first six wine AOCs were made official on 15 May 1936.4 Champagne followed on 29 June 1936, which Comité Champagne calls "a red-letter day for the Champagne designation".2
1941: the CIVC
The law of 12 April 1941 created the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), a joint body of growers and Houses.2,3 It followed the Châlons Commission of 1935.3 Today it is known as Comité Champagne. For the region itself, see Champagne.
See also
Sources
- WIPO (BIRPI journal archive). La Propriété industrielle, September 1927 (reproduces the French law of 22 July 1927 completing the law of 6 May 1919) (1927-09)
- Comité Champagne (champagne.fr). The Champagne designation
- Comité Champagne (champagne.fr). Champagne and its history
- Frise chronologique: 90 ans des signes officiels de qualité (INAO timeline) (2025-09)
- Bibliothèque nationale de France. Champagne ! Bibliographie sélective (exhibition bibliography) (2023-12)
Facts checked on 2026-10-19