VERTUS, France, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) - Widows long ago racked up a name for themselves in France's bubbly Champagne region, where the most celebrated of all, Veuve (Widow) Cliquot, struck gold more than 100 years ago by discovering how to turn the cloudy tipple sparkling clear.

As Champagne faces a turning-point in history, a new widow joins the elite club of top tipplers - with a weighty agenda on her plate.

Carol Duval-Leroy, 52-year-old head of the eponymous Duval-Leroy house established in 1859, this week becomes the first woman to take the helm of a key Champagne association.

The association includes the Veuve Cliquot brand as well as a string of other widows - Veuves Doussot, Olivier, Fourny etc - and magnum brands Bollinger, Taittinger, Pommery and Moet et Chandon.

Indefatigable and iron-willed, the petite blond whose dog Asti rarely leaves her side, took the reins of the family firm when husband Jean died of cancer in 1991, leaving three children and a four-million-bottle a year business with 120 staff and 300 seasonal pickers.

The children grown, the business thriving, Duval-Leroy on November 30 takes over the four-year presidency of the powerful male-dominated century-old AVC (Association Viticole Champenoise) that sets key technical guidelines, such as yearly harvest dates, for the multi-billion-dollar industry's umbrella group, the CIVC.

"I don't know why they chose me," she said in an interview. "I didn't want to accept at first when they asked. I know my own business well, but the idea of being president of the winegrowers? It's fun to think just a tiny woman will be president."

Originally set up to fight phylloxera disease ravaging French vines at the time, the AVC faces a new dilemma in Champagne - too much demand, not enough flutes.

Like other French wines, Champagne-labelled bottles are produced only from grapes nurtured in a specially-designated region - in this case 33,500 hectares (83,000 acres) of land mapped out more than a century back.

But with production at a maximum 400 million bottles a year, prices are exploding and producers say vineyards should be extended.

"The price of grapes per kilo is on the rise and customers will no longer be able to keep up," said Duval-Leroy.

Early next year, the body that controls the classification or "appellations" of wines, cheeses, choice poultry and other fine French foods, is to announce 40 new growing areas for the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes used to ferment the bubbly.

Some of the old vineyards could be scrapped.

The move, expected to spell a net gain of Champagne vineyards but with little effect on production for a decade, comes as champagne sales continue to soar.

In 2006, the region produced 321.6 million bottles of bubbly, more than 60 percent by the 280-odd big Champagne houses that own only 10 percent of the vineyards and thus buy most of the grapes from small farms. Sales for 2007 are expected to reach 300 million bottles.

Meanwhile, producers are also examining ways of improving vinification and growing, and how to cut down on pesticides - areas where the AVC's opinion will count.

Duval-Leroy, whose house once produced Champagne under other labels, such as one still made for Britain's Sainsbury's supermarket chain, has focused her efforts since taking over the management on promoting the label, producing new Champagnes, and modernising the winery.

Not surprisingly, one prize-winning bottle of fizz has been christened "Femme de Champagne" (Woman of Champagne).

"This is a company where 42 percent of the staff, including the head of the winery Sandrine Logette, are women," said Duval-Leroy.

And why not have changed the house to Veuve Duval-Leroy? "I'm a real widow and sometimes it still gets to me, so I don't need a label to remind me," she said.