It's fair to say that, for many people, 2020 hasn't been a year that lends itself to popping the champagne and celebrating.
With weddings cancelled and restaurants closed, the sparkling luxury wine has taken something of a back seat.
In fact, producers in France's eastern Champagne region say they've lost €1.7bn (£1.5bn; $2bn) in sales this year because of the coronavirus
pandemic.
And in May, with France under lockdown, sales were down by 70%.
"We
are experiencing a crisis that we evaluate to be even worse than the
Great Depression," one industry leader told the Associated Press last
week.
Now,
with tens of millions of bottles likely to go to waste and huge amounts
of grapes ready to be harvested, a crisis meeting has been called for
18 August.
There,
the Champagne Committee, which represents more than 16,000 winemakers,
will decide whether to destroy the excess grapes or send them to
distilleries to make hand sanitiser.
The
situation has, unsurprisingly, led to some tension in the industry. One
producer told Euronews that the prospect of the famous grapes being
used to make hand sanitiser was "an insult to nature".
And
there is also a reported rift over how much champagne should be bottled
this year, with producers calling for a sharp reduction due to falling
sales. Growers, on the other hand, say this will take a major toll on
their revenue.
