Ahead of this festive trading period, a vast majority of Australian liquor retailers and licensed venues will be preparing for a major spike in sparkling wines sales; and, in particular, Champagne.
Currently, Champagne accounts for 60% of France’s sparkling wine production, or about 300 million of the approximate 550 million total bottles sold last year. When it comes to export data from 2022, Champagne sales globally represented 10% of all sparkling wines by volume and 28% by value.
On top of the strong basis of being Champagne’s sixth biggest market globally, the Australian Christmas and New Year festive period further lends itself to Champagne sales due to it falling in the middle of summer. Or, as ANZ’s Executive Director for F&B Insights Michael Whitehead puts it: “Christmas isn’t just about unwrapping presents, it’s about peeling prawns, carving ham, and popping champagne.”
In spite of declining import volumes over recent years, the growth of Champagne over the past few decades is pronounced, reaching 10.5 million bottles in 2022, up from 890,000 bottles in 2001. Furthermore, Australian consumers are increasingly demanding variety, with more than 135 Champagne houses, 187 growers, and 15 coopératives currently being imported.
Here, Drinks Trade collates five unique Champagne facts and selling points that might help you engage consumers and generate more sales this festive trading period.
1. The region is at the forefront of environmental r&d
Led by the Comité Champagne, the Champagne region has made significant progress towards reducing its total emissions via a number of different initiatives.
This includes successfully reducing the Champagne bottle weight by 7% in 2010; reducing the region's total emissions by 8,0000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
“We reduced the weight of the bottle from 900 grams to 835 grams,” Stéphanie Martel, Comité Champagne’s Head of Education, told Drinks Trade.
“We're still working on it. We always try to reduce, but we have to face high pressure inside the bottle.”
Additionally, 41% of Champagne's vineyards now have some form of environmental certification, and 27% have been recognised via the region-specific Sustainable Viticulture in Champagne system.
“Today, we have more than 69% of the surface of the vineyard in Champagne that has environmental certification… and our target is to achieve 100% by 2030,” said Martel.
Additionally, the Comité Champagne hopes to entirely eliminate herbicide use across all Champagne vineyards by the end of next year.
All of this forms part of the Comité’s goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 75% by 2050.
2. An uncertain economic environment
The reduced Champagne imports into Australia over the past few years have been reflected globally. In the first half of 2024, Champagne shipments totaled 106.7 million bottles - down 15.2% when compared to the same period in 2023 - positioning them back in line with 2019 levels.
“The sluggish global geopolitical and economic situation and widespread inflation are weighing on household consumption,” said David Chatillon, President of the Champagne Houses.
“Champagne continues to suffer the consequences of overstocking by distributors in 2021 and 2022. Champagne winegrowers and houses remain confident in the values of their appellation.”
Despite this, Director of the Champagne Bureau Australia John Noble believes Champagne will continue to offer tremendous opportunity to Australian retailers and venues.
“Champagne exports have declined in 2023 and 2024, but what is happening here is people are still looking to drink champagne because of an emotional connection to the wine, to the brand, to the experience, but also the taste,” John Noble told Drinks Trade.
“Australia is still the sixth largest market for champagne in the world… People know what Champagne tastes like (they ‘know’ that it tastes like brut non-vintage, it's 90% of our market [and] is what Champagne brands are about) but the consumer that wants to move from there to something else might only know a prestige cuvée or might only know a wine that is prohibitive because of its price and availability.
"If a consumer is trying to understand what the next step is, talking to these people about these types of Champagne I think is really valuable.”
3. Labour shortages
While some wine professionals and wine-educated consumers may have a certain distaste for the manner in which the Comité Champagne proactively polices the region’s name globally - a role it continues to perform on about 500 new cases every year - the governing body is also responsible for a lot of other positive initiations that go beyond global reach and image.
One recent example is Ensemble pour les vendanges en Champagne, a plan specifically designed to help ensure that all Champagne vineyards can acquire the necessary and resources during harvest after several challenging years.
“The structuring of service providers with the creation of a union and a reference framework for good practices was another encouraging sign,” said Chatillon.
“Everyone is playing their part. The Comité Champagne is responsible for preparing the tools; the Champenois and service providers are responsible for implementing them; and the State is responsible for monitoring compliance with the regulations and imposing penalties where necessary.”
The plan was brought to government by Josiane Chevalier, Prefect of the Grand Est region and the State’s representative on the Comité Champagne.
“I would like to pay tribute to the work that has gone into preparing and implementing the Ensemble pour la vendange en Champagne action plan,” said Chevalier.
“I have asked the government services to support the industry. I have also undertaken to strengthen the resources of the inspection services to ensure that the regulations are properly applied and to punish offenders. I would like to reiterate the full mobilization of the government services during the 2024 harvest. Maximum vigilance, zero tolerance - that's the watchword I've set myself, in consultation with the presidents of the Comité Champagne.”
4. Vintage 2024 was ‘exceptionally rainy’
Vintage 2024 was extremely wet in Champagne, resulting in challenging growing conditions and extensive mildew pressure. Spring frosts and hail also reduced harvest potential by around 10%.
Collectively, the negative conditions delayed vine development by around five to six days.
In July, ahead of the September harvest, President of Champagne’s winegrowers Maxime Toubart said that, “after a particularly hot and dry year in 2023, 2024 was exceptionally rainy, which complicated work on the vines. Mildew pressure is high, but remains under control overall, at the cost of a great deal of hard work. The weather conditions between now and harvest will be decisive in ensuring a good harvest.”
Since then, Canard Duchêne Cellar Master Maxime Toubart told Drinks Trade that the harvest turned out a lot better than expected.
For vintage 2024, the Comité Champagne imposed an available yield of 10,000kg/ha, a lower level than the 11,400kg/ha of the year prior, to balance reduced export volumes of recent years.
5. Bracing for climate change, and permitted grape varieties
Earlier this year, Drinks Trade heard from Stéphanie Martel, head of the Champagne education division at Comité Champagne, about Comité Champagne’s ongoing experimental trials of new grape varieties better suited to the changing climatic conditions of the region.
While Champagne is best known for the three varieties that account for over 99% of its plantings - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier - a further four varieties are permitted in the region's cuvées: Arbane, Pinot Meslier, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.
More recently, a new interspecific hybrid named Voltis has also been added to this list on a trial basis.
Martel said, "we face a global warming, it's a reality. For example, over the past 30 years, the crop harvest in Champagne is more than 20 days earlier. It's huge. We also have to face more and more unpredictable weather events.
“For all these reasons, we have had in our regulation a number of non-compulsory (I need to insist on that) non-compulsory possibilities.”
The first one, Voltis, is a cross between Villaris and Mtp3159-2-12, a US variety that is a cross between main wine grapevine species Vitis Vinifera and the US grapevine species Muscadinia.
While an interesting talking point, the use of Voltis in Champagne remains “very, very strictly regulated” and is currently only authorised on an experimental basis.
“If you use Voltis, it's not to exceed 5% of your vineyard. For example, if you have a vineyard of 100 hectares, it's not allowed to exceed 5 hectares. And if you use Voltis, it's also compulsory not to exceed 10% of the blending,” said Martel.
“At the end of 2033, we will decide if we keep Voltis, if we remove Voltis, or if we continue the experimentation.”
Up until then, the species will be carefully monitored and evaluated to both assess its viability and to ensure it does not present any biological risk to other varieties.
Géraldine Uriel, Head of the Plant Materials & Planting department production at the Comité Champagne, said: "The Voltis will require special monitoring with viticultural warnings to ensure its resistance capabilities. Pathogens can adapt quickly and therefore depending on disease pressure.”
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