Champagne Makers Promise Plenty to Cry Into on Dec. 31
Sales of French Champagne are setting records, as Americans prepare to ring in the millennium; winemakers in heart of Champagne-making region of France laugh off talk of shortages; several years ago, Champagne houses and growers of three grapes essential for genuine Champagne agreed to produce enough grapes to make average of 270 million bottles a year for rest of 1990's, about 50 million bottles more than they had been selling in recession years; producers also agreed to draw down equivalent of 132 million bottles of reserve wine, normally saved for years with poor harvest, to use it to put more Champagne on market in 1999 than ever before; result is that there will be plenty of nonvintage wine to go around; Champagne sales this year will likely surpass 300 million bottles and set record, up to 15 percent more than last year's figures; photos; graph; map (M)
