Champagne, sales decline continues. But for importers it is 'a return to normality'

The members of Excellence sell 90% of their imported sparkling wines to restaurants, whichhave raised their prices a lot in recent years, driven also by the increases practised by the maisons, and are now struggling to turn back. "We distributors have an important mediating role that allows us to obtain better results than those who act on their own,' says Cuzziol, 'but we must all pull in the same direction and understand that if a restaurant triples the price of a mid-range bottle from 40 to 120 euros, which is the one that suffers the most, the bottle will remain unsold and nobody will make a profit.

According to Alessandro Rossi, national category manager wine at distributor Partesa, 'a process of normalisation is underway that is returning champagne to pre-pandemic trends. Consumer choices are now more oriented towards products with a better quality-price ratio. Starting with classic Italian wines, which continue to improve in quality, without forgetting the growing attention for sparkling wines from Southern Italy. In addition, foreign tourists with more money are also feeling the effects of the difficult economic situation and have limited their purchases of expensive bottles.

Pietro Ghilardi, CEO of Ghilardi Selezioni of Bergamo, which distributes Taittinger and Henri Giraud in Italy, also speaks of a 'return to normality' rather than a crisis: 'The post-Covid years were exceptional, but it was always clear that it was a transitional phase. 2023 served to restore some normality in the market, but I don't see a long-term crisis there at all'. And on Taittinger, Ghirardi - who has focused on the mission of increasing the historic brand's 'tricolour quotas' - adds: 'We are at the beginning of our adventure with the maison, but the brand is strong and is positioning itself particularly well. We expect a slight decline in the number of bottles compared to 2023, which was still an exceptional year, but I believe the market share will be better than in previous years. The contraction of the champagne market will favour brands like Taittinger, which combine quality with great drinkability and pleasantness'.

"The year 2024 has shown much more clearly how consumer spending power has declined. Talking about our brands in general we are maintaining our positions,' says Corrado Mapelli, General Manager of Gruppo Meregalli, 'but it is obvious that products like Bollinger, which has an extremely strong visibility and identity, does not suffer from these consequences while all the new brands that need to gain visibility and brand awareness are slightly more affected. Our catalogue is positioned in the medium-high band, we have few products in the low band, and if we talk about the super-premium band we have no signs of suffering, indeed we have signs of growth. It has to be said, however, that the super-premium bracket is normally determined by the allocations that each market receives according to the availability of the maison, so it is a number that leaves time for the moment; if we had more bottles, we would certainly sell more.

Increasingly important for the world of wine in general and bubbles in particular is the link with aperitifs and mixology. "We formed a partnership with the Bacardi Group this year and in detail with Santa Teresa, one of the most renowned and iconic rum producers in the world, which we wanted to partner with Bollinger, because we believe they are two products that go hand in hand," notes Meregalli's managing director.

Telmont, which a few weeks ago presented its new cuvée Réserve de la Terre in Italy, described as 'an ode to purity and organic farming'. The maison of the Rémy Cointreau group distributed in Italy by Molinari - and in which Leonardo DiCaprio has also decided to invest for its green commitment - also boasts of using the lightest bottle in the world in the champagne field (developed with Verallia).
"Telmont stands out in this bearish market, enjoying a double-digit growth from 2020 thanks to our strong commitment to sustainability, regenerative and organic farming," says President Ludovic du Plessis. "We want to make a significant impact in Italy, a key market for wine lovers. We intend to establish our presence city by city, giving priority to establishments that align with our values, both gastronomic and environmental. Our goal is to maintain 80 per cent high-end restaurants and hotels, 10 per cent premium wine shops and 10 per cent direct sales'.

"The price increases that affected the entire market showed the first signs of contraction as early as the second half of 2023 and the phenomenon became more acute in 2024. The trend, however, mainly affected the small companies, the recoltant manipulants, while the established and recognisable brands felt the slowdown less. Added value in our country is theinterest in all the references and vintage of the maison and not just the cuvée sans année as happens in other markets," comments Antonio Guerra, sales director of Compagnia del Vino, which distributes Pol Roger, Winston Churchill's favourite champagne that just turned 175 years old.Italy has become the fifth largest market in recent years and 2023 closed with about 4 million in sales and 90 thousand bottles sold.

"In a difficult context in which, however, considering our entire catalogue, we have managed to maintain the same turnover as in 2023 for the same period, the Champagne item is among those that are suffering the most: I confirm the 15% drop already communicated by the Comité," testifies Alessandro Sarzi Amadè, who brings five maisons to Modena (Alexandre Bonnet, François Bedel, Henri Goutorbe, De Sousa and Christian Gosset. "Analysing the individual sales brackets," he continues, "I find a slight drop for the most important cuvèes, the high-end ones, and, on the other hand, a discrete trend for the lower-priced champagnes. This is both confirmation and a response to the suffering of the wine sector and the consecutive reduction in volumes. However, it should also be considered that champagne is subject to sales peaks in the last two months of the year'.

"We are still in a growth phase and we should not see a drop in sales," points out Arnaud Fabre, CEO of Domaine Alexandre Bonnet. "We are still benefiting from a novelty effect on the market and customers are curious and interested in our range of terroir wines, which are different from traditional brands. Values are still fortunately a sales driver, in addition to quality and name. In the Italian market we are still performing very well andwe will end 2024 with an increase over 2023.