Champagne yields are on the increase to meet demand.

Champagne producers have been given the green light to increase yields as a future insurance policy against bad harvests. France’s wine regulatory body, the INAO (L’Institut National des Appellations d’Origine), has granted permission for the maximum yield for the 2007 harvest to be set at 15,500 kilos per hectare. This is 3,100 kilos more than the standard yield set for next year. However, any extra volume won’t become part of the general harvest. Instead, it will be held in tank by growers in case there is another bad Champagne harvest as a result of disease, frost or hail hitting the vineyards. According to Elodie Pasty at the INAO, the regulatory body will supervise exactly which producers can use this stock and when.