Champagne sales have lost their pop as people around the world aren’t in the mood to say “cheers.”
The total number of Champagne shipments from France sank nearly 10% last year to 271 million bottles, marking the second consecutive year of declines as inflation-weary consumers cut back and a generally glum mood permeates across the globe.
That’s according to new report from Comité Champagne, a trade association representing more than 16,000 winegrowers and 320 Champagne houses, which painted a dour picture of the industry that aligns with sales of other alcoholic beverages.
Maxime Toubart, co-president of the organization, said bluntly that this is “no time for celebration, with inflation, conflicts around the world, economic uncertainty and a political wait-and-see attitude in some of Champagne’s biggest markets,” including the US and France.
Sales in France of the home-grown beverage also dipped 7%, to 118 million bottles, because the “domestic market is still suffering from the prevailing gloomy political and economic context,” the statement said. France held a snap election over the summer that resulted in a hung parliament.
French luxury giant LVMH first signaled in July that 2024 was going to be a rough year for Champagne when it reported a 15% decline in sales of bubbly for the first half of the year.
Despite the declines, the association’s co-president David Chatillon reiterated that Champagne is a “solid, sustainable organisational model that has proved its value, even in the face of adversity, which gives it confidence in the future.”
“Champagne is quite linked with celebration, happiness, et cetera,” LVMH Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said on an earnings call. “Maybe the current global situation, be it geopolitical or macroeconomic, does not lead people to cheer up and to open bottles of Champagne.”
LVMH is the world’s biggest Champagne producer and owns Dom Pérignon, Krug and Veuve Clicquot among other brands. Last year, the company invested an undisclosed price in French Bloom, a non-alcoholic sparkling wine, marking its first-ever entrance into the category.
Rémy Cointreau, a French spirits group that owns the Leonardo DiCaprio-backed Champagne Telmont, also recently released a financial report forecasting a steeper decline in sales than expected because of customers cutting back on their spending.
The region in France is also struggling with extreme weather events, including high heat and early frosting, which has resulted in wine growers in 2021 seeing their smallest harvest since 1957. In response, Champagne houses like Telmont are becoming more environmentally friendly with their farming in hopes of attracting customers who are attracted to green initiatives.
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