One swallow does a summer make
Champagne is an age-old industry that won’t be killed by Millenials any time soon
It’s not every day a 70-year-old auto repair shop gets its Cinderella moment. In early June, the former Ossington Tire’s industrial garage was rendered unrecognizable as it transformed into Café Clicquot. Out were the rows of winter tires; in were shelves lined with bottles of bubbly that typically sell for around $200 in restaurants and clubs. And instead of mechanics in dusty overalls working on brakes and alternators, the space was filled with pretty 20-something Instagram stars playing Jumbo Jenga and lounging in hammocks, sipping Champagne from Veuve Clicquot’s unmistakable Pantone 137c Yellow glasses.
Five years ago, opening a pop-up café in an old auto shop, in a hipster part of town, would have been unthinkable for a storied, 246-yearold Champagne brand. But these days, Champagne labels like Veuve Clicquot are less interested in socialites liquid-lunching at fancy hotels and black-tie toasts at fundraising galas than in Millennials popping bottles at record rates for absolutely no discernible reason at all.
Gone are the days of saving a special bottle of bubbles for a special occasion; today’s 20-somethings stock sparkling wine in their fridge as casually as they keep milk. Happy hours, working lunches, picnics at the park, date nights and even Netflix binges are all occasions to pop a cork. “It’s a change in lifestyle. Everyone finds a reason to celebrate something, even if it’s just Tuesday,” says Heather McDougall, sommelier and general manager at the Montecito restaurant in Toronto.
Around 79 million Millennials represent just over one quarter of the legal drinking-age population in the U.S., yet, according to the Wine Market Council, this group consumes 42 per cent of all wine in the country. While Ontario’s LCBO doesn’t track sales by demographic, it anecdotally sees a similar trend and credits recent spikes in wine sales of up to eight per cent per year to thirsty Millennials. Increasingly, those sales aren’t humdrum pinot grigios or mundane merlots but rather sparkling wines.
In 2017, France’s Champagne houses sold 307 million bottles for an unprecedented 4.9 billion euros ($7.5 billion). Wine consumption data from Vinex, a digital marketplace for wine professionals, showed Italian prosecco sales grew by over 20 per cent globally in 2016, even outpacing the growth of Champagne. “We sell prosecco like water – actually more than water,” says Isaac Viner, bar manager at Toronto’s trendy Bisha Hotel. In the same year, more than 254 million bottles of Spanish Cava were sold, marking an all-time high. This massive swing in the market has also been attributed to bubblyguzzling Millennials.
However, there’s an irony attached to Gen Y’s love of Champagne: the Millennial generation experiences fewer traditional milestone moments to toast than previous generations. They aren’t buying houses, they’re putting off marriage and are barely even thinking about having children. Promotions and salary increases are scarce, and the U.S. Federal Reserve recently reported American Millennials are earning a whopping 20 per cent less than Boomers did at the same life stage. The world is full of economic and political uncertainty, while terror, violence and human rights abuses dominate the news.
Previous generations – looking at you, Gen X – have sometimes reacted to periods of intense turmoil and tragedy by embracing nihilism and adopting an extreme skepticism that often
concludes life is meaningless, and it’s pointless to try to construct one’s own meaning as a replacement. Millennials seem to have taken the opposite approach with their own brand of existentialism. They avoid falling in line with traditionalism and sidestep many of society’s established rules, rituals and norms – while largely looking within to derive meaning.
While there are certainly larger socioeconomic and political ramifications to such a philosophy, it can be used to explain why Gen Y doesn’t care to wait to toast what has traditionally been viewed as great life achievements, rather choosing to make their own special moments – even if it’s just getting together with friends on a Tuesday or sharing a brunch together on Sunday.
Similarly, it’s this willingness to disrupt the status quo and self-define that’s responsible for some of the newer trends hitting the sparkling wine market. Until recently it would’ve been considered sacrilege to put ice cubes in a glass of Champagne, but the practice is actually encouraged by bottlers like Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot, whose Ice Impérial and Rich, respectively, are specifically designed to be poured over ice and even mixed with berries, herbs and tea. Prosecco makers like Fiol and Martini are promoting the art of sparkling wine mixology, encouraging customers to mix their wines with sodas, juices, syrups and purées.
Despite their historically stuffy images, Champagne houses have been quick to embrace a new demographic of consumers. Moët & Chandon released a limited-edition customizable “Emoji” bottle last year and the brand’s Champagne vending machines are natural Instagram fodder. Nicolas Feuillatte offered virtual reality tasting experiences in London, Lanson designed Champagne boxes that allowed smartphones to be docked in their upper portion, turning them into makeshift speakers, and even Disney sells Ratatouille-themed Champagne bottles and “Millennial Pink Celebration Toast” cocktails at its theme parks.
Notably, while the alcohol industry struggles to appeal to female customers, resulting in misguided marketing attempts like “bloatresistant lagers,” “beer for her” and basically anything washed in pink, women are leading the Champagne charge. “Bubbles are still very much a female-driven category of the list,” says McDougall.
Perhaps some of that can be attributed to the Champagne industry’s long-standing history of embracing strong women rather than alienating or pandering to them. Some of today’s most storied Champagne brands came of age under the watch of widows who took over their husbands’ companies after they passed away. These grand dames of Champagne include Lily Bollinger, Marie-Louise Lanson de Nonancourt (Champagne Laurent Perrier), Louise Pommery and Madame Clicquot. Perrier Jouët was founded in 1811 by husband-and-wife team Pierre Nicolas Perrier and Rose Adelaide Jouët – a highly unusual arrangement given the position of women in the 19th century.
Madame Clicquot (the word veuve means widow in French) took over her husband’s company when she was 27 years old, becoming one of the only women in the 1700s to run an international business. Not only is the Champagne house she turned into a success named after her, her image and signature have been part of Veuve Clicquot’s packaging for much longer than it’s been considered savvy to market to women. The brand has also presented female entrepreneurs with the the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award since 1972. Perrier Jouët’s feminine influence can also be seen in its signature floral bottle design, which was first painted in 1902. Champagne houses will also eagerly recount how it was women who were responsible for the introduction of Brut Champagne and rosé Champagne – now two of the industry’s most popular products.
The ritual of drinking a bottle of Champagne is also uniquely poised to benefit from how Millennials consume luxury products. A study by Harris Group found that 72 per cent of Millennials would rather spend money on experiences than material possessions, and while Champagne is a product, it’s undeniably also an experience. The act of opening and drinking a bottle of sparkling wine is much more interactive and shareable on social media than a standard bottle of table wine. There’s the excitement of the “pop!” The image of countless delicate bubbles rising to the top of a glass (perfect for Boomerang videos). And, of course, the obligatory cheers.
The love story between sparkling wine and Millennials is just beginning as increasingly knowledgeable and curious 20-somethings begin exploring varietals beyond classic Champagne, prosecco and Cava. “They’re willing to roll the dice on grapes they’ve never heard of; from places they didn’t know grew wine,” says McDougall.
Finally, we have an age-old industry that Millennials can’t be accused of killing.