You can forget your cheap prosecco, or cava or crémant. If you’re looking for bubbles, champagne is where it’s at. Yes, despite the deep crunch of the cost of living crisis which hit most of our wallets hard in recent years, Irish households, it seems, have (almost) recovered their taste for the finer things in life.
Irish sales (by value) are now at an all-time high – above even the heady, frothy days of 2007, when the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway Races heaved, and Ireland was the 14th largest export market for champagne in the world.
According to the French trade association, Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, which compiles global export figures, the value of sales to Ireland hit an all-time high of €18.7 million in 2023. While this is in part down to higher prices, as the number of bottles is still down on that 2007 high, the volume of champagne sold in Ireland continues to grow, year-on-year, advancing by almost 1 per cent from 2022 to 2023.
The uplift in Ireland goes against overall the trend; according to the trade association, exports (by bottle) fell by 8.2 per cent in 2023. Sales of champagne outside France now account for almost two-thirds of all sales compared to just 45 per cent a decade ago, with the US, Britain and Japan the three biggest markets.
Seaimpéin index
A bit like the Economist’s famed Big Mac index, which indicates whether currencies are at their “correct” level by comparing the price of the burger around the world, tracking Irish imports of champagne can cast a light on Ireland’s economic fortunes.
Ok, it might be somewhat less sophisticated, but nonetheless, Ireland’s champagne sales do track quite closely the State’s economic ups and downs.
Champagne, remember, refers only to bottles produced in the Champagne region in northeastern France, of which Rheims is the capital, and where all the grandes marques, such as Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon, and Tattinger, have their vineyards. Cheaper bubbles – the likes of cava, crémant or prosecco – don’t make the “champagne” grade.
But back to the economy. In 2000, unemployment had slumped to just 4 per cent and the economy was on the brink of the boom that would become known as the Celtic Tiger. No mean feat for a State with such a small population.
Unsurprisingly, as austerity hit, the bubble burst and the financial crisis wove its tentacles into all aspects of the economy, champagne sales plunged. By 2009, sales had fallen by almost 70 per cent from the 2007 high to 337,00 bottles a year.
Some subdued years of drinking the finer stuff followed; so much so, in fact, that in 2012, the Central Statistics Office took champagne out of the basket of goods it uses to calculate the consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation.
It came back to the index, however, in 2017, when the economy was once more firmly on the up and champagne is now part of the CPI once more, alongside “sparkling wine”, which covers cheaper bubbles such as prosecco and cava, etc.
That year, Ireland was the 30th largest export market with sales of 475,000 a year. Since then, sales have continued to rise, reaching almost 800,000 bottles in 2023 at a value €18.7 million, positioning Ireland as the 26th largest champagne export market in the world.
But, with the advent of our taste for cheaper bubbles – thanks Lidl and Aldi – Ireland may not return to those heady days of 2007 for quite some time.
The figures also show a steady rise in the cost per bottle of champagne imported, up from €14.60 in 2000 to €23.70 in 2023.
That import cost is only a fraction of what we end up paying of course; much of the additional cost is down to duties. Sparkling wines and champagne attract almost double the excise rate of still wines, at about €6.37 a bottle – one of the highest rates in Europe.
Champagne problems
Of course, champagne is not just for drinking. While its more boring still alternative has long been seen as a stellar alternative investment, champagne, by virtue of its bubbles perhaps, and the fact it just doesn’t last as long, has never been seen in the same cohort as claret or Bourgogne.
Until now perhaps.
Champagne has become a serious business. Many of the most illustrious champagne houses are now owned by the same company that counts some of the world’s most famous fashion brands within its portfolio – LVMH. They include Dom Pérignon, Krug, Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot.
Liv-Ex, a global marketplace for the fine wine trade, tracks the price performance of the most recent vintages of the 13 most actively traded champagnes, through its Liv-X 50 index.
And, earlier this summer, auction house Sotheby’s held a champagne only sale in Paris as part of the disposal of Taiwanese art collector Pierre Chen’s wine collection. The sale, which raised €1.35 million, was a significant step from the international auction house, as it marked the first time that champagne was the only item on the drinks menu.
Bidding was spirited; just two years ago for example, the auction house sold less than $2 million across all its auctions, but this time around managed to reach almost that in just one day.
Top sales included three magnums of Salon Le Mesnil, Blanc de Blancs 1990. It more than doubled its estimate to sell for €25,000. A magnum of Dom Pérignon, P3 1966, sold for €23,750 – way ahead of its estimate of €7,500-9,500.
Moreover last year, champagne maker Krug, made it into Sotheby’s top 10 producers sold at auction – the first time for a champagne house.
Champagne is also now attracting a new type of buyer; Sotheby’s said that a fifth of buyers at the auction were women, while around a quarter were aged under 40.
But as an investment, it may be losing its bubbles.
It wasn’t all froth at the Paris sale; nearly a quarter of bottles at the auction failed to sell. Meanwhile the Liv-Ex 50 was down by almost 14 per cent year-on-year to the end of June 2024. According to the data provider, several champagnes released over the past two years have since depreciated, “in part due to ambitious pricing”.
Consider Dom Perignon 2013. Released in January 2023 at a price of £1,830 (x 12 bottles), it has since fallen in value by some 15 per cent, and is currently one of the least expensive vintages available on the market, according to Liv-Ex.
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