Champagne houses enraged by Christmas deals

Some of the major Champagne houses have been angered by heavy discounting by multiple retailers over the Christmas period and are threatening retaliation to prevent a reoccurrence. They are particularly annoyed that supermarkets used Champagne to promote their own brand images through deep price cutting at a time when demand is traditionally at its strongest.

At least one UK importer, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that the agents of several high quality marques have been warned by their principals in Reims and Epernay that any suggestion of their wines being used again in this manner by the retailers will result in supplies to the UK market being reduced and redirected to emerging markets such as Russia, where demand is burgeoning and margins are strong. 
Although the UK is the biggest export market for Champagne, several producers have been forced to restrict the volumes available to their British agents as global demand expands. Both Bollinger and Louis Roederer were unable to satisfy demand in the run up to Christmas and the New Year. Several other producers were left with extremely limited stocks.
“Some of the discounting was ludicrous”, said the anonymous agent. “The French are not going to supply household name wines only for them to be heavily discounted to make supermarkets look good. That dilutes their image when they face growing demand elsewhere and can maintain their prestige at the same time. Discounting of Champagne at Christmas has become a seasonal tradition but the big names want to stop it.” 

Ron Emler, 09/01/08