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CAPTAIN of CHAMPAGNE

Charles Goemaere
Working for Comité Champagne (CIVC) since 2003. Intellectual
property lawyer involved in IP litigation (North and South
America, Africa, Asia-Pacific) who managed IP litigation
relating to the protection of Champagne PDO in 70+ countries,
Head of Legal Department, then Director of economic and
legal affairs. Since February 2021 „Directeur général Comité
Champagne (CIVC), l’entreprise de services qui réunit vignerons
et maisons.“

It is always a pleasure to talk to someone Following the rule in Champagne, grapes
who understands their field. Even if it‘s at must be picked by hand. What develop-

a distance. However, you may have some ment do you expect in this field for 2021,
troubles talking to a lawyer. What is even wor- 2022?
se is, when two lawyers are talking to each We do not expect any changes, the rule is
other. Then the person asking gets precisely still the same
formulated, yet very strict answers to their
precisely asked questions. However, they will One of your press releases says, Champ-
surely be correct. agne has been hard hit by the world econo-
mic crisis linked to Covid-19 and suffered
How have bans and travel restrictions a historic drop in shipments. Can you provi-
affected the last harvest? What assistance de us with some numbers, graphs ?
and help does the French state provide to wi- Shipments of Champagne in 2020 totalled
negrowers in Champagne? How has the pan- 244,3 million bottles, down 18% compared to
demic affected the work of your wineries? 2019.
After 2018 and 2019, the 2020 harvest com- Already in retreat before the crisis, the French
pletes a trilogy of magnificent harvests, pro- market continued to fall (-20%). Champagne’s
mises of exceptional cuvées for the years to three leading export markets likewise recorded
come. However, the closure of main centres for serious falls this year: -20% in the United States,
consumption and sales, along with the cancel- -20% in the United Kingdom and -28% in Ja-
lation of many events, put the business under pan. This drop was meanwhile offset by the re-
pressure and called for rapid adaptability, in a lative strength of traditional markets in Conti-
climate of considerable uncertainty, to ward nental Europe : Belgium (-5%), Germany (-15%),
off the consequences of the health and econo- Switzerland (-9%); and the Australian market
mic crisis. recorded a notable increase with growth of
The industry has thus organized its resilien- 14%. Taken as a whole, export markets lost 16%
ce and adopted courageous and unpreceden- of their volume.
ted decisions last August: significantly adjus-
ted grape harvest volumes for the year 2020 in Do you consider as important when the
order to distribute the efforts between growers wine region adheres to its traditions, or is
and houses where shipment have been severe- it time for news, experiments, changes in
ly impacted, and do not increase stocks. the first quarter of the 21st century? What
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