These commissionaires were paid according to how low a price they could negotiate and many employed unsavory tactics to achieve their means-including violence and intimidation. They hired agents, known as commissionaires, to negotiate prices with vine growers. With vineyard owners vastly outnumbering the producers, the Champagne houses used this dynamic of excess supply vs limited demand to their advantage. They petitioned the government for assistance and a law was passed requiring that at least 51% of the grapes used to make Champagne needed to come from the Champagne region itself. The Champenois vine growers were incensed at these practices, believing that using "foreign" grapes to make sparkling was not producing true Champagne. The development of the French national railroad system in the mid 19th century opened up easy access to cheaper grapes from the Loire Valley and the Languedoc. In a means to generate greater profit, some Champagne houses would look outside the Champagne region for grapes. So instead they would sell their grapes to the Champagne houses who would produce the wines. Since making sparkling wine is a costly and time-consuming endeavor, most vine growers did not have the means or finances to produce Champagne themselves. Prior to the development of the Échelle des Crus systems, the Champagne industry functioned on a business dynamic that heavily favored the Champagne houses over the vine growers.
See also: History of Champagne § From the late 19th century to modern day
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