The Champagne Riots of 1911 resulted from a series of problems faced by grape growers in the Champagne area of France. These included four years of disasterous crop losses, the infestation of the phylloxera louse that destroyed 15,000 acres of vineyards that year alone, low income, and the belief that wine merchants were using grapes from Germany and Spain. The precipitating event may have been the announcement by the French government that it would delimit by decree the exact geographic area that would be granted economic advantage and protection by being awarded the Champagne appelation. The word Champagne can have one of several meanings when stated alone. ... Grape Phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, family Phylloxeridae, superfamily Aphidoidea) is a serious pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. ... A vineyard Vineyard with bird netting Wine grapes with netting as protection against birds A vineyard (vignoble in French, vigna or vigneto in Italian, vinha in Portuguese, viña or viñedo in Spanish, Weinberg in German) is a place where grapes are grown for making wine, raisins, or table...

Thousands of wine growers violently vented their frustration and anger by burning vineyards, sacking the cellars of wine merchants, ransacking houses, destroying stores of wine, and burning houses and other buildings.

See also

• French wine
• Wine terrorists

France is one of the oldest wine producing regions of Europe, and also is generally considered to be one of the most prestigious, if not the best. ... Comité régional daction viticole (CRAV, Regional Committee of Wine Action), is a French group of radical wine producers. ...

Source

• Johnson, Hugh. Vintage: The Story of Wine. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1989.