From Town & Country, December 10:
As we head into celebration season, are our flutes in danger of running dry?
There are few things more festive than a bottle of champagne. Even just the sound of a cork popping can enliven a room. It's only natural then, that champagne flows most prominently during the holiday season, and serves as an integral part of our celebratory fetes, toasts to friends and family, and of course, sips at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve. Consequently, many were understandably nervous when rumors began to circulate (once again) that we could be looking at a shortage of the bubbly stuff as the year is coming to a close. So how worried do we need to be about our champagne flutes running dry?
Not to burst any bubbles, but when it comes to supply and demand, champagne does find itself in a tricky position.
"We do expect a decline in volume for champagne," says Cyril Delarue, a 6th generation Bollinger family member. While the 2020 and 2021 harvests yielded approximately 240 million and 290 million bottles respectively, Delarue explains, the demand for the last 12 months has been closer to 340 million bottles. Given the fact that champagne, by its nature, takes several years to mature, that shortfall isn't obvious yet, but it could be coming if the public appetite for bubbly remains high—as all signs suggest it could.
"After Covid, I think that people rediscovered the power of positivity of champagne," says Vitalie Taittinger, the President of Champagne Taittinger....
....MUCH MORE
Now she's a marketer: "the power of positivity of champagne."
I may have to casually drop that little confection into casual conversation this Holiday Season.
