Bloomberg: French drinking less Champagne after boom years

France’s Champagne producers shipped fewer bottles of bubbly last year, another sign of softness in the luxury market.

Foreign shipments from the French region dropped 8.2%, the Comité Champagne, which represents the producers, said Monday. Within France, shipments fell to the lowest level in almost four decades excluding 2020, which was skewed by pandemic lockdowns, Bloomberg reports.

The French are by far the biggest consumers of their home-grown sparkling wine, accounting for more than 40% of shipments, but inflation has weighed on household budgets, according to the Comité Champagne.

Demand for Veuve Clicquot, Bollinger, Lanson and other labels soared when pandemic restrictions eased and has since been returning to normal — a trend seen across the luxury-goods industry. The consultancy Bain estimates the sector will probably grow by as much as 4% this year, down from 8% in 2023, underlining the challenges facing purveyors of high-end goods.

Total shipments fell to 299 million bottles last year. Growers made up for the lower volumes by selling more expensive labels, especially abroad, keeping revenue above the €6 billion ($6.6 billion) record reached in 2022, according to the Comité.

Speaking during a panel organized by the National Retail Federation on Sunday, Philippe Schaus, chief executive officer of LVMH’s wines and spirits unit, said there’s more balance between supply and demand for its Champagne brands after the “roaring” years of 2021 and 2022 when consumption was outstripping supply.

“2024 will be a year with probably more moderate price increases because we took some price,” hikes last year, Schaus said.

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, the biggest maker of Champagne, owns labels such as Moët & Chandon and Dom Pérignon. The group’s wines and spirits unit, which also includes Hennessy Cognac, saw revenue tumble 7% on an organic basis in the first nine months of last year, the only division to suffer a drop over the period.