Read Charles Bremner on the great camembert row

Landowners in the Rheims region won a future windfall worth billions of pounds yesterday when they were awarded the right to produce champagne in the first substantial expansion of the tightly controlled wine region since 1927.

Thirty-eight communes (village districts) were being named after decades of lobbying and feuding among councils and growers who are excluded from the official boundaries of champagne country. This means that dozens of new producers will be able to market the wine that is now limited to vineyards in 319 communes in four départements mainly around Rheims and Epernay.

With soaring world demand for the wine, permission to make champagne is almost a licence to print money. World consumption rose more than 5 per cent to reach a record 339 million bottles last year with booming demand from the newly affluent Asia and Russia. Britons retain their ancient rank as the biggest champagne drinkers after the French.

Months of lawsuits are expected after the new areas were announced last night by the INAO institute, which administers the appéllation d’origine contrôlée law. Yves Benard, the head of wine names in the INAO said: “The area of the champagne appellation which continaed 319 communes covering 33,500 hectares will now include 357 communes.”

The value of flinty-soiled farm-land is expected to jump more than 200 times if it is designated for champagne. The acquisition of the champagne title will transform vineyards that now produce humble sparkling wine — although they will have to meet the strict quality rules.

Gilles Flutet, who is in charge of land designation at the INAO, described the stakes last month: “If your vines fall on the wrong side of the divide, they will be worth ¤5,000 (£3,800) a hectare. On the other side they will be worth ¤million.”

One wine magazine estimated that the value of new champagne-designated land would jump by more than £3 billion.

The guardians of the label have always insisted that the strict limits to the geography and grape yield ensured the highest quality, but the rules effectively ensured a shortage that has kept prices high for years. The 33,500 hectares of champagne vineyards are modest compared with 120,000 hectares that are authorised for wines in Bordeaux.

Even with the expanded vineyards, output will not rise for a decade, because of the time needed to delimit the land parcels and plant and mature the vines and wine. The Council of State, the highest civil law court, must first rule on the choice of new districts, probably this year.

Pressure has mounted in recent years with champagne houses seeking more supplies of the pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier vines that are used to make champagne.

The list of eligible new communes was drawn up by a team of experts who had to determine how the potential vineyard plots measured up to criteria including history, geography, geology, agronomy and phytosociology — the study of how plant communities interact. Champagne grapes will only be allowed in areas with the right soil quality, sun exposure and distance from woodland.

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