On Dec 1st Air France issued a press release confirming the incident in full as reported by The Aviation Herald right from the outset, stating, that the crew initiated oceanic contingency procedures to descend without ATC clearance. The turbulence lasted for about 30 minutes, the flight continued normally thereafter.
According to radar recordings, The Aviation Herald obtained on December 1st, the airplane reached the mainland of Portugal at FL400.
On Dec 7th the French BEA reported, that they have opened an investigation into the incident stating, that the incident may provide further insight into the crash of flight AF-447, see Crash: Air France A332 over Atlantic on Jun 1st 2009, aircraft impacted ocean.