Champagne's big bubble
By Ben Canaider | smh.com.au | 11 June
Hands up if you know how much champagne - from Champagne, of course - Australians drink each year. A million bottles? Two million? Try three. Or 3,308,978 bottles, to be exact. That's a 124ml glass of the stuff for everyone, per capita. The staggering thing about this champagne consumption is how much it has grown recently. In the 15-year period to 2002, champagne sales in this country hovered around a million bottles (with a blip of more than a million and a half at millennium time). Yet in 2004, 2005 and 2006 sales grew by 6000,000 bottles a year.
Some of the praise for this sky-rocketing growth must go to Elisabeth Drysdale, the director of Sydney's Champagne Information Centre for the past seven years. She points to two reasons behind champagne's growth. "With the success of the Australian economy (over recent years) consumers have had increased spending power to trade-up from sparkling wine to champagne. Consumers are also trading-up from non-vintage to vintage champagne. There has also been big growth in areas such as WA and Queensland, particularly in vintage champagne sales." Drysdale links this with an increasing number of Australians eating out (up 14% in 2006) and a greater number of champagnes being served by the glass. Then there is also the education angle.
"We (the CIC) also run an award primarily to educate consumers about champagne. The Vin de Champagne Awards is organised every year on behalf of the Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC). The award has run for over 30 years and has produced some of the finest champagne palates in the world. No other wine award like this exists in Australia, or in any other major market for champagne. Past winners actively promote champagne in all walks of life, ensuring that Australia remains in the top 10 markets for imported champagne."
Teaching people champagne secrets might be sustainable, but if the economy blows an O-ring, will the 3million mark be maintained?
"Are those sales sustainable here?" wonders Drysdale. "Yes. I think so. The world economy over the next few months could be telling, but Australia has always been good for champagne."
Indeed, according to Bollinger's Australian brand manager, Paul Boothby, Australia was champagne's number one customer following the Victorian gold rush of the mid 19th century. "Australia has always been strong - a strong champagne market. We're always top 10 in the world by volume.
"There's a massive on-premise (restaurant) interest in champagne now, and a general growth in sparkling wine full stop. Quality of sparkling wine is growing, which might also be helping people take an interest in champagne. We've also got more champagne houses selling into Australia now, and even some grower champagnes."
Asked if 3million plus bottles can be maintained. Boothby says, "It should!" He adds a caveat, however: "The champagne market is cyclical...so Christmas 2008 could be a litmus test."
First published by Smh.com.au on June 11 2008
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