The coronavirus pandemic has had an unexpected effect on various industries worldwide. While latex gloves producers and online retailers are thriving, airlines and hospitality are suffering huge losses after a long time of prosperity. Thus, the French wine industry was heavily hit by the lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of the virus. The situation is close to catastrophic since most of this year's harvest will have to be completely destroyed. As most of the festive events have been cancelled due to the pandemic, the demand for champagne plummeted the most since World War II. So, growers will have to cut the volume of grape harvest this year and destroy all the surplus in order to support the prices. Around 360 French champagne houses, which buy about 90% of сhardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier grapes, have come to an unprecedented agreement with winegrowers to limit the grapes output to 8,000 kg per hectare. This will slash the harvest volumes by 22% compared to the previous year. Unfortunately, one fifth of the grapes in this year's champagne harvest will be left to rot. French luxury conglomerate LVMH who also owns Moet&Chandon, Krug, Dom Perignon, and Veuve Clicquot has already reported a 30% plunge in sales due to COVID-19.
