What are the regulatory requirements for planting vines?

The uprooting and replanting of vines (or planting of new plots) must be notified to the authorities.

Planting must take place before the end of May (or late July for plants started in pots), following a period when the soil is rested and prepared.

Champagne AOC wines may only be produced from the fruit of vines in their third year of growth (two years after planting).

Regulations specify a maximum spacing of 1.5 metres between rows and 0.9 – 1.5 metres between individual vines.

Total of these two spacings may never be more than 2.5 metres.

Spacing between rows : 1.5 m

Distance between individual vines : 0.90 m to 1.50 m

Total spacing (inter- and intra-row) : < = 2.50 m

Density per hectare

The average planting density is roughly 8,000 plants per hectare.

This high-density planting favours a lower crop load per vine (therefore better quality).