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Champagne: Grapes or Sugar Beets?
You can’t grow grapes in Champagne unless you own land designated for grape-growing. Anywhere else and you are relegated to the pedestrian production of corn, sugar beets or other crops. But if your land has the right soil (lots of chalk) and good drainage (so the roots of your vines are obliged to dig down deep into the mineral-rich bedrock), then you can produce grapes for one of the world’s great wines. And the value of your land multiplies in value by ten times or more.
In the background of this snapshot there is forest; in the foreground, and on the slopes in front of the forest, there are vineyards; and on the valley floor is a small village and its lowly, earth-hued agricultural fields. La Champagne. Less than a two-hour drive from Paris.
Addendum: La Champagne, with the feminine article, denotes the region; le champagne, masculine, is used for the wine.
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