The market for fine champagne and eye-catching bottles is booming

It is no coincidence that, in English, the adjective ‘sparkling’ can mean, depending on the context, effervescent, glittering or lively. There is one Champagne that embodies all these meanings: Hoxxoh, a French brand that has built its identity around a decidedly theatrical take on the toast. It encapsulates them in a truly unique bottle, designed to turn heads: a device embedded in the base, the Bubble-Light™, illuminates it in a range of colours, with the light lasting up to six hours and pulsing to the beat of the music, even when the Champagne is chilling in ice. The brand was recently acquired by Gabriel & Spirits,a Lugano-based group active in the distribution of spirits and premium beverages, which is thus entering the Champagne market. The stated aim is to expand its distribution within the hospitality sector and the high-end segment, whilst maintaining the brand’s individuality: “The integration of Hoxxo Champagne represents a key milestone in our Group’s strategic growth path. Hoxxo combines a great tradition of production with a modern and distinctive positioning. The acquisition of this company, with a turnover of around 4 million euros, strengthens the structure of Gabriel & Spirits, which already exceeds 44 million euros, laying the foundations for further acceleration of the business in the luxury and high-end beverage markets”, emphasises Gabriel Rapisarda, chairman and director of Gabriel & Spirits.

Trilogy Prestige Box (1.030 euro)

The ‘glowing’ Champagne is the brainchild of Macha and Grégoire Popineau, developed in collaboration with Raphaël Lamiraux, a winegrower in Venteuil, in the Marne Valley, who, for his Blanc de Blancs, also uses Chardonnay from the Grand Cru villages of Oger and Chouilly. This collaboration reflects the two facets of the project: the production of the wine – the creators proudly emphasise that they are, first and foremost, winemakers – and the creation of an experience centred around serving it. Each bottle is finished by hand, a process taking around an hour. In the Gold cuvée, for example, the label decoration contains 24-carat gold dust, and the bottle comes with six sheets of edible gold leaf to be dipped into the glass (100 per cent Chardonnay, 270 euros on hoxxoh.com). There is a 0.45-carat ruby set into the label of the Ruby, which adds 3 per cent Pinot Noir to the blend (360 euros), and a synthetic sapphire in the beautiful blue bottle of the Saphir demi-sec (320 euros). The most precious experience for connoisseurs is the Grand Cru. In keeping with the finest Champagne tradition, which involves adding special vin de réserve to the blend, it contains a dash of the prestigious 1907 Jönköping Champagne. Commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II during the First World War, it spent 82 years on the seabed of the Baltic Sea following a shipwreck before being recovered and returned to enthusiasts (280 euros). The sparkle is there and plain to see, but so too is the contents of the glass, which the packaging does not overshadow.