While Champagne's authorities adjust the legally allowed yields and cropping levels ahead of the 2018 harvest, the "unofficial" market for excess grapes is thriving.

With the 2018 harvest fast approaching, Champagne winemakers have been cutting their holidays short and are scrambling to find pickers. Champagne is one of the few regions where all grapes are picked by hand. Even if the appellation regulations (cahier des charges) do not specifically stipulate that grapes must be hand harvested, it is, up till now, the only way to harvest whole bunches, and the rules stipulate whole-bunch pressing.