happily for champagne in producers have an at least three year ’s eve .
but the crisis has continued , and the french economy has worsened this year , with three quarters
indeed , even with the shortages expected from this year , wine producers seem equipped to handle the decline since there ’s a surplus left over from waning demand in the u.s. and south america markets due to the recession , the edmonton journal reports .
the champagne harvest is down 40 percent this year , leading to the worst yield in at least four decades , thanks to hail storms and fungus caused by wet weather , according to the french agriculture ministry , businessweek reports .
all over europe , in fact , crops of grapes used to make wine have had a bad season this year , causing the total french grape harvest to decline by 20 percent , including in the well - known wine - producing regions of burgundy and bordeaux .
french champagne producers , they have another problem .
last year , the u.s. france with its economy sliding into recession , france could use a bit of cheering up as the holiday season approaches .
champagne takes at least 15 months to make and is often made from a mixture of grapes from harvests spanning several years so the long term effect is n’t expected to be too drastic .
at the time , the civc said the decline was a “ temporary effect ” from the european debt crisis .