Champagne also made its revolution. 2022 is proving to be a year of records: shipments (this is what sales in the realm of the bubble are called) at the highest level in volume – 325.5 million bottles – and, above all, in value : more than 6 billion euros, a figure never reached. The performance stems from the surge in exports (+4.3%), the result of the move upmarket – the famous premiumization. They now represent 57.5% of total turnover (compared to 45% in 2012), but are accompanied by their corollary, the inexorable erosion of purchases in France (-1.7%), particularly in the large distribution.
Most shipments are made by trading houses
“Faced with the downward spiral in vineyard sales observed since the last crisis in 2008 – 40 million bottles lost on the French market – the sources of growth are now to be found in exports”, confided Véronique Blin, president of the Center vinicole Nicolas Feuillatte, in December 2021, to explain the reasons for the merger between the group she chaired and the Regional Cooperative of Champagne wines (CRVC-Castelnau). However, 85% of shipments in the world are carried out by trading houses, cooperatives and private cellars sharing the rest. Going upmarket, growing to impose itself internationally has become the mantra of winegrowers’ unions.
The leading brand in France illustrates this well. Under the impetus of its managing director, Christophe Juarez, Nicolas Feuillatte had already taken over Abelé, in 2019, a small structure which was dormant in the portfolio of a Spanish company. The operation was surprising: never in Champagne had a cooperative taken control of a trading house. Better, barely concluded the merger with Castelnau, the new group Terroirs et Vignerons de Champagne (TEVC), announced last March to enter into exclusive negotiations with Artémis Domaines, which manages the wine jewels of the Pinault family, for the sale of Champagne Henriot . The venerable house ticks all the boxes of the strategy of premiumization of TEVC: a history that merges with that of the wine of the coronations, a prestigious positioning, an international influence and a strong anchoring in the traditional circuits (wine merchants, restaurants, etc.). This marriage will make the new entity the indisputable number 2 of the Champagne bubble, but still far behind Moët Hennessy.
On the way to the Rugby World Cup!
Other groups of harvesters are also successfully active, such as Alliance Champagne (Jacquart, Devaux, Pannier), Union Champagne (De Saint Gall), or even Mailly Grand cru and Palmer & Co. And now a new actor. Not just any, just the world’s third-largest wine group, after Castel and Grand Chais de France: Cordier by Invivo, a subsidiary of the global agricultural cooperative giant Invivo. “The Cordier 1886 collection is the prestige signature of our group, explains Constance Boulart, the marketing director of the brands division. For the moment, it is based on spirits, Burgundy and, now, Champagne, with the launch of Dival Cotel , ‘valleys and hills’.” The fledgling brand will offer six cuvées this summer, including three vintages, produced by Cogevi and Prieur, two member cooperatives. Without forgetting a limited edition, 28.10.2023, date of the final of the Rugby World Cup, of which Cordier is a partner. There is no doubt that the test will be transformed!