Three per hectare

Up to 20,000 people come to the Aube vineyards to work on the harvest. There is nearly 120,000 for the whole of the Champagne region. With around 8,000 hectares of vines in the Aube (just over 34,000 for Champagne as a whole) that works out to around three grape pickers per hectare.

This year, some of the producers have also chosen to take on a few extra workers to help keep the presses clear, to help the whole process flow more easily. It is always better to keep the grapes waiting on the vines than at the presses.

The workers are often regulars that are recruited every year, from all across Europe. However, recruitment does appear to be a little more difficult this year for the growers, so some are now using service companies to fill the need for them, after all there’s enough to do without the worry of finding enough workers!