Champagne sales fizzle
As it sparkles, fizzes and overflows, Champagne marks any occasion with abundance and elation. That pop of a cork comes at a price, though. And during a global health crisis, it’s no wonder that fewer people would find cause to celebrate with luxury wine. Alcohol consumption may be up, but producers in France’s northeastern Champagne region expect roughly 100 million bottles of bubbly to go untouched by year’s end.
Weddings and parties have become scaled- back affairs. A night out at a bar or restaurant is clouded with uncertainty, and international travel has been stymied. As a result, Champagne sales have dropped by one-third and producers say they’ve lost $2.7 billion ( 1.7 billion euros), The Associated Press reports.
On Aug. 18, the Champagne Committee ( known by its acronym CIVC in France) — which represents growers and merchants — will meet to decide the fate of tons of surplus grapes: Will they destroy them, or sell them to distilleries at a discount to make hand sanitizer?
In the early days of the pandemic, distilleries promptly redirected their efforts to meet demand for disinfectant. Winemakers in French regions such as Alsace started turning over unsold bottles in early June to make room for a new harvest. In Canada, Pacific Rim Distilling in Ucluelet, B.C ., Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers in Beamsville, Ont., and Ironworks Distillery in Lunen burg, N. S. were among the many craft distillers who began making hand gel.
Anselme Selosse of Jacques Selosse Champagne, for one, called the prospect of turning some of France’s most highly prized grapes into hand sanitizer “an insult to nature.”
According to Thibaut Le Mailloux of the Champagne Committee, although 2020 began on a promising note, the current challenges are the worst in modern history. “We are experiencing a crisis that we evaluate to be even worse than the Great Depression ( 19291939) in terms of economy for Champagne,” Le Mailloux told Bloomberg. “And if you look at a more recent crisis like 1974, the drop in Champagne shipments was only half of what we are expecting this year.”
While Canadian winemakers deal with their own challenges due to COVID-19, Ashley Mcconnell- Gordon, vice president of Benjamin Bridge in Wolfville, N. S., says demand for their sparkling wine has remained steady. Their smaller-format pétillant naturel, which is available in 250- ml cans, sold out this year as it did the last. “Overall we’ve been really grateful that Nova Scotians and, more broadly, Canadians are loyal to small farmed, local artisan products,” says Mcconnell- Gordon, “even when it comes at a slight premium to imported wines.”
Although the forecast for 2020 is exceptionally poor, the Champagne industry has withstood great hardship in the past, said PaulFrançois Vranken, founder of Vranken-pommery Monopole.
He noted that Champagne’s vineyards have survived two world wars.
“But with the other crises, there was a way out,” he told The Associated Press. “For now, there is no way out — unless we find a vaccine.”
Some producers have suggested rethinking Champagne’s market positioning as a possible solution to slumping sales. Rather than banking on its niche as a splash- out status symbol for parties and celebrations, Vranken plans to highlight it as a natural, often organic product with great historical significance.
Its trademark fizz once considered a fault, the sparkling wine travelled a long road from the hands of Benedictine monks to the extravagant courts of pre- Revolutionary France and salable luxury during the Belle Époque.
Trenches, skirmishes and more recently, trademark disputes have left the vineyards largely undisturbed. “C hampagne some times sounds a little bit optimistic,” Le Mailloux told Bloomberg, “because we have this resilience and we have three hundred years of history of getting over the various crises and finding innovative solutions.”