The Champagne region's trade association has lost its battle to end the storage of radioactive waste near its borders.

Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) asked the courts to stop France's national nuclear agency from storing hazardous waste at Soulaine over fears that champagne crops would become infected, the Drinks Business reports.

However, the courts have denied the request, claiming that the site does not pose any threat to grapes because it is "downstream" of the vineyards.

"The CIVC accepts the tribunal's decision, but will remain actively vigilant on the matter," the news provider reports Daniel Lorson, director of communications for the CIVC, as saying.

One of the CIVC's most well-known members, Dom Perignon, recently confirmed it is to pay tribute to the work of Andy Warhol with pop art-inspired labels.

Experts from Central St Martin's School of Art & Design were commissioned to produce the red, blue and yellow labels, which will adorn bottles of Dom Perignon Vintage 2002.