Consumers get bubbly about champagne sales
NEW YORK -- Raise a glass for champagne. Bubbles are back.
Not since the buying frenzy of 1999, when people bought champagne in bulk to ring in the millennium, have U.S. champagne and sparkling wine sales been so high. Volume for 2007 is expected to hit 900 million glasses, up 4% over 2006, says the 2007 Impact Annual Wine Study.
"Americans are developing a taste for champagne and sparkling wine — slowly, but it's growing," says Frank Walters, director of research.
Driving the rising sales: growing consumer interest in rosé and a broader taste for sparkling wines, such as champagne. Consumers are becoming more educated about price, flavors and the right match with food, much as they did with wine in the past decade.
"There's a monumental change in people's perception about bubbles," says wine expert Gary Vaynerchuk, co-founder of online superstore Wine Library (winelibrary.com) and host of a video blog. "We're getting far more educated in the U.S. about wine and sparkling wines."
And it's growing across the board, from pricey Dom Perignon to cheaper sparklers such as $5.99 Verdi Spumante.
Despite stronger sales throughout the year, marketers have still popped the cork on a year-end flurry of marketing the bubbly. The holidays can account for up to 40% of a maker's annual sales.
The surge in sparkling wines:
•Expensive. At LVMH, which imports and markets top-sellers Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot and superpremium Dom Perignon champagnes, volume was up 8%.
"More and more Americans are understanding that you can drink champagne not just around celebratory times," says Andree Corroon, LVMH spokeswoman. "It goes with meals. It's a fantastic wine to have with dinner, and I just discovered that champagne is absolutely delicious with sushi."
For $30 (plus the $39.99 cost of champagne), you can get a bottle of Moët & Chandon custom decorated with Swarovski crystals at the Boutique Moët shop in New York's SoHo district.
•In the middle. Business is up about 8% at Korbel. The third-biggest U.S. sparkling brand is celebrating its 125th anniversary.
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