We love to break out the bubbly

AUSTRALIA’S reputation as a nation of beer-swilling yobbos is coming to an end with more drinkers quaffing champagne and fine wine.

We popped the corks on a record 8.53 million bottles of French bubbles last year, a jump of 16 per cent on the previous 12 months.

Sales have been climbing for 15 years, said Brisbanebased champagne judge, Tyson Stelzer.

He sees the soaring popularity of champagne as a mark of Australia’s grow- ing sophistication in food and wine.

“We used to be beer and Bundy country. Now people are drinking more wine than they are beer,’’ he said.

Mr Stelzer, author of The Champagne Guide, was named International Champagne Writer of the Year in 2011.

Mr Stelzer said Australia’s love of champagne had surprised the Comité Champagne that records the export figures.

“This unprecedented growth positioned Austra- lia as the fastest-growing of champagne’s top 10 markets by both volume and value in 2017,’’ he said.

And a greater variety is being sold here.

“A record 114 champagne houses, 119 growers and 14 cooperatives were imported in 2017,’’ he said.

Although the market is dominated by non-vintage cuvées, there was a jump in prestige cuvées sales. “Australia confidently holds its position as the world’s seventh largest champagne market,” he said.