Turnover has fallen by a third this year \u2013 a hammering unmatched in living memory, and worse than the Great Depression.<\/b>
\nREIMS, France \u2014 Champagne is losing its fizz. For months, lockdown put the cork on weddings, dining out, parties and international travel \u2013 all key sales components for the French luxury wine marketed for decades as a sparkling must at any celebration.
Producers in France\u2019s eastern Champagne region, headquarters of the global industry, say they\u2019ve lost an estimated 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion) in sales for this year, as turnover fell by a third \u2013 a hammering unmatched in living memory, and worse than the Great Depression.
They expect about 100 million bottles to be languishing unsold in their cellars by the end of the year.
\u201cWe are experiencing a crisis that we evaluate to be even worse than the Great Depression\u201d of 1929, said Thibaut Le Mailloux of the Champagne Committee, known by its French acronym CIVC, which represents some 16,000 winemakers.
Recognizing the urgency of the problem, the CIVC is launching unprecedented damage-limitation measures. Like oil-producing countries, the committee regulates the size of the harvest each year to avoid the kind of excess production that would cause bottle prices to plummet. At a meeting scheduled for Aug. 18, it\u2019s expected to impose a cap so tight that record quantities of grapes will be destroyed or sold to distilleries at discounted prices.
The prospect alarms smaller producers, who are more vulnerable than the big houses.
Anselme Selosse, of Jacques Selosse Champagnes, called it \u201can insult to nature\u201d that champagne\u2019s famous grapes might even be destined to produce alcohol for hand sanitizer, as is happening in other wine-producing regions such as Alsace after demand spiked during the pandemic.
\u201cWe are to destroy (the grapes) and we pay for them to be destroyed,\u201d Selosse said, referring to the industry as a whole. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing but a catastrophe.\u201d
\u201cChampagne has never lived through anything like this before, even in the World Wars,\u201d Selosse added. \u201cWe have never experienced\u2026 a sudden one-third fall in sales. Over one hundred million bottles unsold.\u201d
Major producers such as Vranken-Pommery predict that the crisis could last for years.
\u201cIt should not be forgotten that (champagne) has lived through every single war,\u201d said Paul-Francois Vranken, founder of Vranken-Pommery Monopole. \u201cBut with the other crises, there was a way out. For now, there is no way out \u2013 unless we find a vaccine.\u201d
Vranken said the very essence of champagne marketing \u2013 as a drink quaffed at parties and weddings \u2013 needs to be re-evaluated to reflect the new normal: Fewer festivities and a lack of celebratory group events. The new branding strategy for his, and other champagne companies, will seek to highlight the wine\u2019s status as a naturally, and often organically, produced quality drink from a historic French region.
\u201cEven if the bars and the nightclubs are closed for five years, we don\u2019t plan on missing out on customers.\u2026 There will be a very big change to our marketing that highlights the grandeur of our wines,\u201d Vranken said.
Selosse, who produces many \u201cnatural\u201c champagnes with no added sugar, also hopes the pandemic will encourage thought about future champagne marketing and how the multi-billion dollar industry is restructured. He would like to see a more cooperative side to production, such as \u201ccommunal wine presses\u201d to help pool the costs for smaller producers.
Selosse said adaptability has served champagne well in the past, helping it evolve from a dessert wine in the 19th century to the modern day dry version named \u201cbrut.\u201d
He even thinks \u2013 but this is a minority view among producers \u2013 the industry could move away from effervescence and be able to produce all sorts of wine, as it did in the past: red, white or still.
In fact, literally no fizz.
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