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Champagne shipments drop by around 3%

Champagne shipments are expected to fall by around 3% to between 312 and 314m bottles in 2012, back to the level of 2005/6, after a poor November saw sales drop between 6 and 7% on the same month in 2011. Last year, when 42m bottles were sold in December it was the lowest figure for that month since 2004, says Michel Letter, managing director of GH Mumm and Perrier-Jouët at Pernod Ricard. “If we do the same this December, that will make 312m bottles for the whole year.”

With “a lot of promotion on the French market recently” where prices in hypermarkets have regularly dropped below €10 a bottle, he expects that level at least to be reached. “This compares with 323m bottles last year,” says Letter “and while a lot of people will complain, it only takes us back to the shipment level in 2005/6 and is not too bad [given the widespread economic recession]. The problem is we have no idea of how things will develop next year making forecasting difficult.

“The French economy is not likely to recover next year and while the US and Asia are doing well, with a 1% downturn in France [where 56% of all champagne sales were made last year] you need a 10% increase in Asia to compensate. The difficult markets are in Old Europe where France, down 4.9% to the end of October, the UK, Spain and Italy have all fallen. All the growth for the category is coming in markets outside Europe with Japan, Australia and China all doing well,” says Letter.

“For the second year running Japan, where exports were up 26% in the first half year, has been our leading market for Belle Epoch [Perrier-Jouët’s prestige cuvée]. In Australia, where shipments were up 16.2% in the first half, we have also done very well, partly because of the Pernod Ricard wine connection and through taking over [from Moët] sponsorship of the Melbourne Cup.”

Interview: Michel Letter, DG of G.H. Mumm & Perrier-Jouët at Pernod Ricard

The Drinks Business February 2013:

An outside opinion: Michel Letter was critical of the Champenois when he arrived in the region back in 2006 saying they didn’t always seem to apply logic to the decision making process. Seven years on and he has been accepted by the Champenois as one of their own but his different background has enabled him to bring a new approach to the region and how the houses of GH Mumm and Perrier-Jouët are run.

Read the full interview here.

Dom Pérignon 2002 rosé launch

RichardGeoffroyDPRoseLaunch2013-01-29 19.34.10 — Chef de Cave Richard Geoffroy is pictured at the Dom Pérignon Rosé 2002 launch in London at Leighton House Museum

Richard Geoffroy, chef de cave at Dom Pérignon is not a believer in pink champagne that can’t be distinguished from its white counterpart with your eyes closed. “If it doesn’t taste different, what’s the point in making a rosé?” he said at the launch of 2000 pink DP a couple of years back. At that event, the first ever oenothéque DP Rosé from the stunning 1990 vintage was also released, somewhat overshadowing its decade younger sibling.

This time round in 2013 with the simultaneous release of the 1993 oenothéque DP rosé alongside the new ‘02, one could say roles are reversed. While 2002 is the most widely produced top class vintage since 1995, ’93 wasn’t much of a year for vintage champagne. But again it is the wine with that extra decade in bottle which stands out now and it is tempting to say: ‘What’s the point of drinking Dom Pérignon Rosé without at least two decades ageing?’ Let’s hope Geoffroy can persuade the accountants at LVMH to keep more DP stock back, so we can. We understand he would like to.

Champagne discounting takes break as most big deals end

Champagne prices have gone back to what passes for normal as the frantic Christmas and New Year activity susbsides. But if you only buy discounted fizz, don’t worry, as a new pack of deals will soon emerge for Valentine’s and Mothers’ Day with pink offerings to the fore.

For the best current deals see the Retail Offers page

Champagne négociant Pressoirs de France goes into receivership

One of the main players trading in sur lattes Champagne that supplies major UK supermarkets including Tesco, Waitrose and Morrisons has gone bust. After weeks of speculation that is was in financial difficulties, the Pressoirs de France group owned and run by Nicolas Dubois has gone into receivership having failed to find a new financial backer. In a statement to the French press on Wednesday, Dubois said the company was « without sufficient capital to fund its cash needs ».

Dubois, who started his brokering business in 1999, quickly become a large operator predominantly selling cheap champagne to hypermarkets and supermarkets inside and outside France. His group sold 6m bottles of champagne in 2012, he told French newspaper l’Union. He made it clear that the majority of this was bought on the sur lattes market from other producers in Champagne when he confirmed that he had purchased €160m worth of champagne in the sur lattes market in just four years. Working on an average sur lattes price of between €6.5-7 over this period that’s in excess of 22m bottles of champagne.

According to rumours circulating widely in Champagne, Dubois had recently pre-sold clients large volumes of champagne at just €8 a bottle, banking on the sur lattes price dropping in the current difficult economic climate to make these deals profitable. However, the sur lattes price has actually risen slightly to just over €7 and when you add in the cost of about €1.20 per bottle for disgorgment, it’s hard to see how this bit of business could possibly have been profitable, which may have triggered Pressoirs de France’s financial collapse.

It was Dubois who supplied the Laurence D brand promoted in Leclerc supermarkets last September at just €5.45 in a loyalty card deal. The Pressoirs de France group also supplies Tesco with its Francois Dubois label; Morrisons with its Louis Dubrince champagnes and Waitrose with Bertrand de Bessac all of which have been heavily promoted at under £15 in the UK in the run-up to Christmas.

The administrator appointed by the French court on 8 January is trying to save jobs at Pressoirs de France’s operation based in based in Faverolles & Coëmy 10kms to the west of Reims. According to reports in the French press the business has total liabilities of €49m including €30m of bank debt but its assets include 40 hectares of supply contracts bought with the Jeeper brand (also sold by Tesco on-line) by Dubois in November 2009, plus other supply contracts and the equivalent of €25m of unsold stock.

Augustin and Leroux in new positions post Bollinger

Two former top Bollinger managers, well known to the UK champagne trade, have started new export orientated jobs. Hervé Augustin, previously Bollinger MD, whose ‘resignation’ as President of Ayala last September surprised many industry observers, has joined Champagne De Castelnau at the Reims-based CRVC co-operative as their export director. And earlier this month, Stephen Leroux, former sales and marketing director at Bollinger, who briefly worked last year on the export side at Louis Roederer, joined the EPI management team under MD Robert Remnant, specifically working on the Charles Heidsieck brand.

Augustin oversaw a complete restoration of Ayala’s fortunes and image moving over from managing Bollinger after the family bought the ailing house in January 2005. The CRVC MD Pascal Prudhomme says Augustin will help them achieve their objective of « reaching sales of 500,000 bottles for the De Castelnau barand by 2016, its 100th anniversary, with 50% sold outside France”. Aged 62, Augustin’s career in Champagne, which spans 37 years, began at Laurent-Perrier working with his uncle Bernard de Nonancourt.

The appointment of Leroux on the Charles Heidsieck brand shows EPI’s determination to build a talented management team capable of restoring this famous marque’s image, positioning it in the same territory as brands like Roederer and Bollinger.

Best current buys

As usual at this time of year the supermarkets are desperately trying to attract more customers into their stores and once again ‘cheap’ champagne is one of the instruments they are using to do this. So far we have seen prices fall to as low as £6, albeit only briefly with some de-listed stock at ASDA while Tesco on-line (De Vallois), ASDA (Pierre Darcy’s), ALDI (Philizot) currently all have champagne at £10 or £9.99 a bottle.

It is hard to get excited about these wines but in the next rung up, typically from £12 to £20 a bottle, far more interesting fizz is to be found among the supermarkets’ best Own Label lines, champagne from some of the less well known houses and one or two growers’ cuvées.

We have tasted our way through many of these champagnes to try and find the best drinking for the Christmas holidays and New Year at the most competitive price. We have also picked out some of the best vintage champagne for current drinking, both from less well known producers and the big international brands (to follow soon). See the ‘Best current buys’ section on the Latest Retail Offers page.

Jacquart’s Blanc de Blancs style impresses

JacquartLunchwithFlorianEznackatChysanRestaurantPic — Jacquart chief winemaker Floriane Eznack (centre) conducts the tasting while Rosemary George MW and I look on (picture by Lucy Shaw of Drinks Business)

The cooperatives in Champagne are a very good source of relatively inexpensive fizz, their vintage lines and prestige styles in particular. At Jacquart, where they have dramatically trimmed down the range of champagne they offer to just five cuvées, the vintage Blanc de Blancs has become one focus for attention. So it was great to have the opportunity recently to taste the last four Blanc de Blancs releases in the company of Jacquart’s relatively new winemaker Floriane Eznack who took over in January 2011.

We started with the current 2005 vintage, a luscious butter-rich blend of Chardonnay from four fine crus (two premiers and two grands) Vertus, Villers-Marmery, Chouilly and Avize. Eznack describes the Jacquart style of this cuvée as ‘greedy’ they are looking for unctuous richness rather than linear minerality. Attractive now, this is a wine that will happily age further, although it may not have the ageing potential of the ‘04 vintage which preceded it.

While the ’04 blend is different — mostly from Oger and Chouilly with a splash of Vertus and Cuis this time – it has textural richness in common with the ‘05, plus some smoky, nutty characteristics with a hint of honey on the finish.

The 2002 vintage that followed — showing aromas of fresh butter and warm brioche for Eznack – has matured further and has more developed honey notes, luscious richness and an impressive palate texture which carries a long finish. Chouilly this time is the dominant component (66%) with 20% Vertus fruit and the remainder coming from Sezanne. The final 1999 vintage (Chouilly, Vertus, Trepail and Cuis) has developed into a big, opulent silky textured style you’d be pleased to find still in your cellar. Originally launched around 2003/4 it went through a rather closed phase, says Eznack, but it has opened up again impressively, as the tasting demonstrated.

Over lunch which like the tasting took place at the newly opened Japanese restaurant Chrysan (sadly it closed in March) we tasted the straight ’05, ’04 and ’02 vintages. Made in a roughly 55/45 Pinot Noir/ Chardonnay blend they all showed well, especially the ’02 in magnum, the format giving extra freshness to set against the wine’s substantial richness. The creamy textured, 1999 rosé vintage that followed was not however overshadowed. Ten years ago this would have barely set you back £20 in a retail outlet like Majestic and that would have been a good investment. I recently opened a 1998 Jacquart Rosé which I had cellared for five or six years that was similarly complex and quite delicious.

Jacquart Blanc de Blancs 2005 (the 2006 has also been released now), is available on-line only from Tesco and I have recommended it here several times (see retail offers page) especially when promoted at £30 a bottle.

Moët signs Federer as new brand ambassador

Moët & Chandon has announced that tennis icon Roger Federer is to be the house’s new brand ambassador. Federer will take centre stage in Moet’s new advertising campaign when it starts in March. “Roger Federer personifies the glamour of achievement, great generosity and tremendous style values that have been key to our house throughout its long history,” says Stéphane Baschiera, Moet’s CEO. Moët has become an active sponsor in tennis over the past few months and is the official champagne of the ATP World Tour, the French Open, the Shanghai Masters and the US Open.

Interview: Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt of Laurent-Perrier

Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt with Laurent-Perrier’s head winemaker Michel Fauconnier

The Drinks Business November 2012:

Devoted sisters: Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt talks about how she and her sister Stephanie were handed the reins of the Laurent-Perrier business when her father Bernard died in 2010.

She explains that although their commitment to the business was questioned and there were rumours the company was up for sale, that was never really an option for the two sisters. They were only too aware of their father’s strong desire for them to take over at the helm working together to guide the business.

Read the full interview here.