Champagne shortage this Christmas
20 11 2007
With demand on the up and supply remaining static, getting hold of premium champagne is becoming increasingly challenging - particularly the larger bottles which are extremely popular during the festive season.
This year we could only purchase 150 double magnums of our house champagne, such was the limited production at the supplier, Mailly Grand Cru……….. and they have almost all gone. Champagne house Bollinger have also run out of magnums for the UK market and Pol Roger are restricting the number of large format bottles they are selling as they are in such short supply.
In a few years time, we may well have to introduce champagne rationing. This term, redolent of post war hardship, hardly seems appropriate for the wine of celebration and decedance, but there may come a day when hitherto widely available Grandes Marques are allocated only to regular, loyal customers, much as we do with the First Growth Clarets at the moment!
Emerging markets such as India, Russia and China are fuelling the boom but, with the UK responsible for 10% of total consumption, and now by some way the leading export market, us Brits will be amongst the first to be hit!
Some Champagne houses are now looking to England for suitable terroirs and lobbying French authorities to increase the size of the Champagne region. The enthusiasm and effort dedicated by some very serious Champenois to the former task is indicative of a lack of confidence that the authorities will allow more than modest expansion of the region.
Champagne is thus a victim of its own success, but also the punctillious demarcation of its geographical bounderies, which in itself has underwritten quality and ensured reputaion. They are right not to sacrifice either; but inevitably this can only result in higer prices and more focused distribution.
Getting hold of cheap fizz from supermarkets won’t be a problem but, if you want the best the region has to offer, you should think ahead to secure the bottles you really want.
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In the article, it is mentioned that you ONLY get 150 bottles of large sized BBR house champagne this year because of shortage of supply at the producer.
For my interest, How many bottles of champagne did you get from the same producer last year? ?
@ Yamaguchi
Thanks for your comment. Yes, due to selling out so rapidly last year with the same amount (150 Jeroboams), we requested a higher allocation for this year but were unable to acheive it due to such high demand.
Our supplier was not really geared up to Jeroboam sales, but has now had a great demand under their generic label as well as ours, so we have had to put in a very early request for next year to achieve more stock - and have managed to secure 300.
Dear Mr Field,
Thank you very much for the reply.
I really understand the serious shortage of big bottles of champagne in UK.
In Japan, the champagne in big bottle is not very popular at now though the popularity towards champagne rise every year.
I am sure the peoples’ expectation towards big bottle will soon be
arrived to our country.
Yamaguchi
If people would reject the mass-marketed, mass-produced factory Champagnes in favour of estate-grown (what? grow your OWN grapes?!?), artisan-produced wines, we wouldn’t really be having this problem. The notion of expanding Champagne’s acerage is preposterous! What if “they” suddenly decided to expand the size of Gevrey-Chamberin simply because it’s popular? I can’t think of any wine region that hasn’t lost out on quality when its acerage expanded. As for a shortage, it all seems very funny to me because even in rural Ireland, there still seem to be plenty of bottles on the shelves. Obviously your inability to secure more jeroboams was the result of them not having enough bottles, not a shortage on wine. Is there a shortage of Chateau Lafite? No. There’s the perfect amount. If they made more, it wouldn’t be as good. Unfortunately, large-scale Champagne houses don’t subject themselves to the same quality restrictions. Besides, nothing that’s experiencing a “shortage” will be sold at £5.99/bottle in a dime store! This entire charade is just that: because of Champagne’s image, the big houses think they can get more, so they’re going to give ita lash!
Dave, thanks for all these interesting points. I think Growers’ Champagne will gain in popularity, slowly , gradually, deeply, and we have had increasing success with individual growers such as Benoit Marguet, Jean Louis Bonnaire and Nicolas Chiquet at Gaston Chiquet , all of whom have been brave enough to go it alone! Try the Bonnaire 2000 to see what can be done; this is what a Champagne from a particular village ( Cramant) should taste like………….completely different from a Champagne from, say, Ay or Rilly-La-Montagne!
In terms of the size of the region, in their defence it should be mentioned that there has been a huge investigation into the suitability of the proposed new villages and that the project is on-going………..indeed 50 years ago , the size of the vineyard was 80% bigger than now! As you can imagine the villages that were expelled were none too happy!
There is of course a degree of self-interest in the Houses proclaiming a ’shortage’; the fact is that demand is now in excess of supply, so technically it is true, ………..but that still over half is made for the French market, some of it not very good and sold relativel cheaply. This is where they need to firm up their game and ensure that the quality threshold is more closely policed.
Dear Simon,
I hope this is the right place for this word of warning!
If you order a bottle of champagne at the bar of The Royal Festival Hall you will not be allowed to open it yourself as “It contravenes Health & Safety”. In my case the Barman who told me this, could not open the bottle, and had to call for help!
Bryan Oates