Labor abuses and tariffs cloud the industry

It’s no surprise that champagne sales peak around Christmas and New Year, with French fizz becoming the drink of choice in many households during the festive season.

Every year, around 120,000 seasonal workers come to France to work and harvest grapes from 34,000 hectares of vineyards. Harvest lasts only a few weeks, making this a very busy time for the sector.

However, recent reports have shed light on the exploitation and abuse of Champagne grape pickers, who are often foreigners or illegal immigrants, and have revealed a darker side of the industry when it comes to this work.

During an extreme heat wave in late summer 2023, at least four immigrant grape pickers, or people known as “benders”, died in an event that has since been dubbed the “Harvest of Shame.”

The lawsuit highlighted widespread substandard working and housing conditions for pickers, including excessive hours, low wages, and a lack of safety equipment and procedures, such as adequate hydration and rest breaks.

The scandal over working conditions and benefits comes at a difficult time for the industry as a whole. The 2024 harvest was on the verge of being “spared”, with lower-than-average yields due to spring frosts and summer rains, which only stopped towards the end of the growing season.

The 2025 harvest went more smoothly thanks to poor weather and was praised as a high-quality vintage.

Nevertheless, this year’s sales, to be announced in January, are likely to fall further due to weaker champagne shipments to the US due to US import duties on products from the EU.

The death of at least four migrant grape pickers during the 2023 harvest during an extreme heatwave has exposed the murky side of the Champagne industry.

Then, in the summer of 2025, three people were put on trial for trafficking and exploiting more than 50 West African migrant workers during the 2023 harvest season.

Victims reported being treated like “slaves” and “animals” and held in “hellish” and unsanitary conditions with no clean drinking water. Such conditions undermine the safety, health and dignity of workers, the Labor Inspectorate said in the case.

The trial also highlighted unscrupulous employment practices, as the defendants were affiliated with employment agencies that supplied workers to the industry, and revealed that Champagne houses extensively used subcontractors, employment agencies and more informal channels to recruit grape pickers.

The defendants were found guilty and sentenced to fines and prison terms, but the union claimed the Champagne house was able to turn a blind eye to illegal labor practices through the use of “intermediaries” and agents.

In a summary of the case at the Chalons-en-Champagne Criminal Court, prosecutors said: “We cannot accept that behind Champagne lies uncontrolled subcontracting and blatant abuse.”

The Champagne Commission, the French Champagne industry’s umbrella trade association representing more than 16,000 wine producers, 130 cooperatives and 370 Champagne houses, acknowledged that the case had damaged the industry’s reputation and said it would take a “zero tolerance” approach to any future wrongdoing.

“We had to stand by the victims. We couldn’t gamble with the health and safety of seasonal workers, and we couldn’t compete with the image of our designation,” commission co-chairs David Chatillon and Maxime Toubard told Le Monde newspaper in July after the trial.

The committee launched the Together for the Champagne Harvest action plan to ensure improved harvest regulations as well as worker health and safety procedures and worker accommodation.

Champagne winemakers and vintners are keen to demonstrate their commitment to the welfare of their workers. Moët & Chandon is the world’s largest producer, LVMHwill invest €1.5 million ($1.76 million) in new accommodation for an additional 90 grape pickers in 2024, bringing the total capacity of the accommodation offering to up to 1,900 beds.

CNBC asked the Champagne Commission whether the welfare measures have been fully implemented by member associations since they were proposed, but has not yet received a response. CNBC also contacted several trade unions about the reforms, including the Champagne producers’ CGT union and the SGV union, but did not receive a response.

There is no doubt that this is a difficult time for the industry as a whole. The 2024 harvest had lower than average yields due to spring frosts and summer rains, which only subsided near the end of the growing season, but were just about to “save” the crop. The 2025 harvest went more smoothly thanks to poor weather and was praised as a high-quality vintage.

Champagne, synonymous with northeastern France, accounts for 10% of the world’s sparkling wine production but 35% of the world’s market value for sparkling wine. However, sales have declined in recent years due to a decline in global demand and lower alcohol consumption.

Champagne shipments in 2023 (usually a mix of harvests from several years) totaled 299 million bottles, down 8.2% from the previous year. According to data from the Champagne Commission, 271 million bottles were shipped in 2024. Sales this year face further headwinds from U.S. import tariffs on products from the European Union.

The industry is also facing challenges from within, with the CGT union at LVMH’s Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot champagne divisions calling for workers to strike in December to demand an end to year-end bonuses and better pay.

A spokesperson for Moët & Chandon told CNBC that the company would not comment on the dispute, but said salary negotiations would take place in early 2026. “We are unable to comment prior to negotiations.”

Treatment of seasonal harvesters is just one of the challenges facing the industry if sales continue to decline.