Champagne is one of the elegant extras in life.

These words, borrowed from Dickens, capture some of the glamour and sparkle of Champagne, its decadence and luxury. It is a celebration and a treat. We drink it to welcome new life or to bid farewell to those we’ve lost. We enjoy it at Christmas and birthdays, share it with friends, family, colleagues. It opens galleries, launches ships, and rings in the New Year. It is one of my favourite things to drink; I love working with, and learning from, those who make it.

But if Dickens were writing today, he might be tempted to focus more on the people picking the grapes than the pleasure of drinking the finished product.

Towards the end of last year, I read an investigation in The Guardian which revealed that migrant workers employed during the 2024 grape harvest were underpaid, undernourished, and left to sleep outdoors on one of the richest streets in the world. According to the journalists, they were exploited by a system of corrupt labour providers paying below the French minimum wage, and no overtime. They received little or no food — sometimes only a sandwich for a full day’s work — and many were housed in appalling conditions, or provided with no accommodation at all. One woman was forced to sleep on a rain-soaked mattress, while others were left to shelter in the doorway of a local cinema.

These were not isolated incidents. In 2023, four vineyard workers died from heatstroke, and others were housed in such squalid lodgings that they eventually had to be relocated by the Salvation Army. Later this year, four people — including a vineyard owner — will be tried in court for human trafficking. Reading about the conditions these workers were subjected to — long days of hard manual labour, filthy, overcrowded accommodation, insufficient food, and meagre wages— I was struck by how proximate they sounded to the poorhouses of Dickensian London. The divide between the people picking the grapes and those delighting in the finished product had never seemed so great, and so shamefully unpalatable.

To be clear, these human rights abuses are not the norm in Champagne. Producers of all sizes have harshly condemned the perpetrators, as well as the negative impact their actions are having on the region’s reputation. Christelle Rinville, Vineyard Director at Champagne Taittinger, has described the mistreatment of migrant workers as ‘unacceptable’. She insists these ‘are the actions of the minority and should be severely punished.’ Taittinger, she explains, takes the wellbeing of its employees very seriously: 35% of their harvest workers are sourced locally, and the remainder are selected from trusted companies under contracts which guarantee fair wages, safe and clean accommodation, transport, and ample food for all employees. Their temporary workers are also supported at all times by a full-time staff member, a team leader, and a translator, so they have a direct channel to express any concerns in their first language.

The Comité Champagne has also condemned the allegations, urging producers to question low pricing and stressing that using a service provider cannot cost less than direct employment. In 2024, they launched a comprehensive review of the recruitment processes for seasonal workers and have since implemented a long-term plan, “Together for the Champagne Harvest”, designed to improve the rights and working conditions of all Champagne’s seasonal workers.

These are very positive first steps, and I look forward to seeing them rolled out during this year’s harvest. But I can’t help but feel the industry has moved on too quickly. The allegations feel under-explored in the media and, while researching this piece, I was surprised, perhaps naively, by how few producers were willing to talk to me on the record. This isn’t the first example of human rights abuses in winemaking and, unfortunately, I don’t imagine it will be the last: the way I see it, Champagne needs to see this as an opportunity to come together to tackle these difficult truths head on by setting new, world-leading social responsibility standards which could then be rolled out across the industry and the wider agricultural sector.

And there is no shortage of inspiration. In South Africa, winegrowers have long been taking steps to improve the working and living conditions of their employees — and rightly so. As far back as 1998, Backsberg, the country’s first carbon-neutral winery, worked with the government to launch the Freedom Road Housing Project, an initiative that helped agricultural workers to obtain their own homes. To do this, Backsberg empowered its employees to produce two wines under the Freedom Road label which went on to fund the building of 18 houses, all of which were acquired mortgage free by vineyard workers. I would love to see Champagne investing in a similar initiative to fund a temporary housing project; managed collaboratively, this could not only provide safe, dignified lodgings for seasonal workers, but it would also demonstrate the region’s shared commitment to ending abuses of workers’ rights for good while raising awareness about an issue that is too often ignored.

In Argentina, Domaine Bousquet is Fair for Life and B Corp certified, qualifications which Anne Bousquet says have ‘strengthened [their] commitment to fair wages, safe working conditions, and ethical labour practices’. As part of this, Bousquet has improved housing for its temporary workers, launched a profit-sharing model, and implemented comprehensive training schemes. The Domaine also employs a social worker, operates an anonymous reporting system, and provides all staff with a free hot meal at lunchtime. This is an impressive model and offers food for thought for Grandes Marques committed to improving their social responsibility.

In Champagne, Piper-Heidsieck, Charles Heidsieck, Rare, and Champagne Bollinger are all B Corp certified. This is no small feat and, according to sustainability expert Tamlyn Currin, ‘the audit process is tough and usually requires confronting some uncomfortable truths.’ Although typically associated with green performance, applicants must also meet certain justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion standards based on what B Corp defines as the ‘foundation of a safe and equitable workplace that […] reflects a range of critical labour and human rights’, making it a powerful seal of approval for consumers looking to buy ethical Champagnes. I look forward to seeing more wineries investing in certifications like this, which attest to a commitment to people, as well as the planet. Of course, not all producers can afford such expensive accreditations, but smaller growers have long succeeded in finding their own ways to lead by example in the wine industry: producer collectives like Biodyvin are powerful advocates for environmental stewardship in winemaking.  There is no reason why a similar, ethical model couldn’t work in Champagne and beyond.

As we have seen from the recent success of the environmental movement, meaningful change depends on advocacy and collaboration, but also communication. For Ophélie at Champagne Lapie-Lamiable — a sustainable grower in Tours-sur-Marne — harvest time is ‘the fruit of a year’s work’ and the men and women involved are an essential part of ‘what makes our harvests so unique’. I would like to hear more producers talking about the harvest process with the same reverence and respect. Maisons often honour the artisanal, human skills behind their top cuvées, from the application of biodynamic treatments in the vineyard to riddling, long-ageing, and hand-disgorgement in the cellars. But what of hand-harvesting? For some reason, this quality-driven practice, recognised and enshrined in the region’s appellation laws, often goes unmentioned and uncelebrated. Ophélie’s words are a powerful reminder of what Champagne truly is — not glitz and glamour, but a golden expression of the interplay between humans and nature, and a love-letter to the people— all the people — who make it.