Drinkers find pop in the price of champagne hard to swallow

French bubbles rapidly losing their fizz as cost of living drives shoppers to cheaper alternatives

THE market for champagne has gone flat after challenging growing conditions and rising costs led to a sharp rise in the prices of bubbly.

British drinkers appear to have lost their taste for French bubbles, with sales of champagne slumping in the face of steep price rises.

Figures reveal nearly every champagne available in UK supermarkets has suffered a drop in sales. The data shows that champagne has become significantly more expensive this year.

The average prices of Veuve Clicquot, Moët, Bollinger and Laurent-Perrier have risen by 14 per cent, 15 per cent, 12 per cent and 12 per cent respectively – to £54.90, £48.89, £54.08 and £52.91 per litre. In the case of Veuve, that is an increase of £6.68 per litre.

The report by The Grocer industry magazine suggests British drinkers have switched to either more affordable champagne or other types of sparkling wine. Veuve Clicquot has lost 16.7 per cent of its market share, falling £7 million to £35.1million. Moët & Chandon is down 10.7 per cent to £51.1million. Bollinger has fallen 16.2 per cent to £24.4 million, and Laurent-Perrier is down 7.3 per cent to £25.9million.

The report reveals that Taittinger managed to grow value by £700,000, but that was because of a 10 per cent rise in average price. More affordable champagne brand Lanson, which sold at an average of £43.43 per litre this year, grew its value 10.7 per cent to £36.3 million, though this was due chiefly to a rise in prices.

Robert Rand, managing director of Lanson, said the champagne sector had been forced to deal with small harvests in both 2020 and 2021, driving prices up. He said: “This has added pressure to inventories. As a result of this scarcity, we are seeing retail prices go up.”

Lucy Auld, of Freixenet owner Freixenet Copestick, whose brand has grown by 10.3 per cent to £114.5million, said the downturn in champagne was “an opportunity for other sparkling wines”. She said prosecco and cava were benefiting from being “at an accessible price point”.

Sales of English and Welsh wines increased by around 30 per cent in 2020 over the previous year and nearly 2.000 hectares of vines have been planted in the last five years. Earlier this month Majestic reported a 58 per cent increase for English sparkling wines over the course of one year.

Are Britons losing their taste for Champagne? In a sign of the times, prices have leapt, sales of many premium brands are down, and people are turning instead to cheaper labels or sparkling wine. This is good news for British producers, particularly of Sussex wines, which have been given their own official designation. But one should never rule out the Moets or the Veuve Clicquots: their appeal is based upon an air of exclusivity, or reckless spending, and the fact that one needs to take out a second mortgage adds to the allure. We are back to the pre-war age of “Champagne Charlie”, when, as the song implied, buying a bottle of champers meant either you were rich or, even better, willing to spend big to look like it. “To prove that I’m not jesting and the sort of man I am/ I’m going to stand champagne all round and stand it like a lamb!”