LVMH appoints Berta de Pablos-Barbier and new CEO for Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Mercier

French luxury group Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) has appointed Berta de Pablos-Barbier as its CEO for its Champagne houses Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Mercier.

With current CEO Stephane Baschiera stepping down in the New Year, his place will be taken by Berta de Pablos-Barbier, currently an executive at Mars Wrigley.

Pablos-Barbier will take on her new role on January 1st, with Baschiera staying on until the end of that month to aid the handover.

Baschiera has spent 24 years at Moët Hennessy, the last eight as head of Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Mercier. Pablos-Barbier meanwhile has degrees in agricultural engineering and food sciences from the University of Valencia and the IFM’s executive MBA in Global Fashion Management. She is currently chief growth officer at Mars having previously held senior positions at Boucheron and Lacoste.

Philippe Schaus, chief executive and CEO of Moët Hennessy said: “I am delighted to welcome Berta de Pablos-Barbier to the management of Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Mercier. Thanks to her initial training in agronomy, Berta will be able to understand the field of viticulture and winemaking.

“Alongside Stéphane Baschiera, she will devote the whole month of January to this integration in order to ensure perfect continuity in the management of our three houses. I am convinced that, with the support of her teams, she will play a decisive role in the development of Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Mercier.”

The group’s other Champagne houses, Krug, Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot, all have their own CEOs, with Pablos-Barbier now the second female CEO alongside Krug’s Maggie Henríquez.

Champagne Sales Set for Record Year

Champagne sales are set for a record year, driven by solid demand from export markets, favorable currencies and stabilizing sales in France, the fizzy drink’s home market.

Industry estimates gathered by Reuters showed that about 312 million bottles of the prestige sparkling wine will have been dispatched in 2015, a rise of between 2 and 3 percent from 2014.

Revenue has risen 4.4 percent to 4.7 billion euros ($5.1 billion) in 2015.

In 2007, the record year so far, revenues reached 4.56 billion euros, before the global economic and financial crisis began weighing on the market a year later.

The 2015 sales estimates reflected efforts to promote higher-priced products such as special blends and fine vintages, as well as growing demand for Rose Champagnes in Japan and the United States, Champagne’s second export market after Britain.

In Britain, a solid economy underpinned buoyant demand while austerity-hit Italy and Spain were starting to see signs of an upturn.

Economic woes in Champagne’s home market of France have taken the fizz out of global sales since 2010, but sales were stabilizing in volume and value this year and could even show a slight rise.

“France is on a recovery path. Consumption stabilised,” said Bruno Paillard, CEO of Lanson BCC, the number two Champagne house behind luxury group LVMH.

Sales were improving in French hypermarkets as well as in specialized stores.

“Consumers need to enjoy life,” said Paillard, adding lower energy prices and interest rates may have helped improve consumer purchasing power.

The Champagne market is dominated by LVMH, which owns the Dom Perignon, Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart and Krug brands. Specialist makers include Lanson-BCC, Vranken or Laurent Perrier as well as drinks group Pernod Ricard with its Mumm and Perrier-Jouet brands.

Official figures for 2015 will be published next month.

Champagne, which can be produced only in the region of the same name, is facing tougher competition from Spain’s cava and Italy’s prosecco, sold for as little as a third of the price.

Industry professionals say the Champagne sector is fighting back by stepping up efforts to enhance the quality of its own product.

Reuters

Veuve Clicquot RICH – The Champagne for Mixologists

images2Each year LVMH unveils exclusive new products that celebrate the summer season.
One of their latest sun-drenched offerings debuts with “RICH”, a new champagne from Veuve Clicquot. Enveloped in seductive silver foil, RICH is an exciting new expression of Veuve Clicquot’s savoir-faire, created specially to be used in mixed cocktails. RICH is sweeter than other champagnes and brings out the best in the fruit and vegetable that it’s mixed with.

Cellar Master Dominique Demarville reconnected with the origins of Champagne-making traditions, when sparkling wines were dubbed “rich” because of their sugar content. A perfect example is the 1840 Veuve Clicquot found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea off the Aland Islands, which contained more than 150 grams of sugar.

Intrigued by this style of champagne, Demarville set out to reinvent this tradition with a fresh approach. Working with mixologists, he composed a cuvée with much higher sugar content than other Veuve Clicquot champagnes, at the same time increasing the percentage of Pinot Meunier grapes in the assemblage to emphasize the freshness and fruitiness of RICH.

Designed to be enjoyed on the rocks or bring out the Clicquologist in you and combine Veuve Clicquot RICH with pineapple, grapefruit zest, cucumber, celery, pepper or tea.

“Sugar in champagne is like spices in a recipe: when the dose is perfect it reveals new aromas and transforms the palate,” Dominique Demarville explains.

Toasting the Bad Economy? Champagne Sales Bubble Up

Champagne sales are bubbling again.

The French industry is preparing for a bumper holiday season, a significant recovery from just two years ago, when it slashed production in the face of the global economic downturn.

By the end of September, the Champagne industry had shipped 192 million bottles, and the festive fourth quarter is usually the strongest, accounting for a third to a half of annual bubbly sales. That could put it on track to near the record 339 million bottles shipped in 2007.

The Champagne rebound reflects the effervescence in the luxury-goods industry as a whole. The world’s largest luxury-goods group, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the owner of fashion and beauty brands such as Louis Vuitton and Guerlain as well as several champagne labels, recorded 15% sales growth over the first nine months of 2011. Luxury fashion rivals such as Hermès and PPR’s Gucci logged similarly robust growth.

“Champagne sales are faring well ahead of the holiday season and are up 15% compared to 2010,” said Emeric Sauty de Chalon, president of French online wine shop 1855, which last month organized a major Champagne tasting in Paris.

Though sales may not reach the levels seen before the crisis, “we’re getting closer,” said Stephanie Mingam, the spokeswoman for drinks group Pernod Ricard’s Champagne division, which owns Mumm and Perrier-Jouët champagne.

The industry took a serious hit in 2008 and 2009. Champagne makers—famous-brand and independent producers alike—cut production drastically to avoid a large drop in prices, leaving tons of grapes rotting in the fields during the harvest.

Shipments from the Champagne region—located east of Paris, and the only place in the world that is permitted to use the region’s name for its bubbly—fell below 300 million bottles in 2009 for the first time in five years, according to CIVC, the champagne trade organization. Last year, the industry shipped 320 million bottles, valued at €4.1 billion ($5.49 billion), the CIVC said.

Like the luxury-goods industry in general, however, champagne makers remain cautious about the future. They fear that a deepening of the euro crisis could dampen consumers’ thirst for a beverage that is associated with celebration and good times. Mr. Sauty de Chalon is now pitching bubbly as a distraction rather than a celebration. Champagne “is a means to escape everyday life,” he says.

The first signs of a bumper year came this past summer. The CIVC, which sets the criteria for the harvest, authorized the maximum volume of grape picking—a sign of optimism for the medium term as grapes picked this year will be aged for at least two years.

Then, in October, LVMH said the group’s Veuve Clicquot Champagne was holding back some stock as it faced supply shortages ahead of the holiday season, particularly in the U.S. “We don’t have enough bottles, and we made sure that these bottles were left for the year-end season,” Jean-Jacques Guiony, the finance director, said in October. LVMH also owns such Champagne brands as Dom Pérignon and Moët & Chandon.

Other Champagne makers have also noted that consumers are willing to pay more for their bubbly. Lanson-BCC, the home of the Lanson, Besserat and Tsarine brands, said the price/mix effect—a key indicator reflecting both the type of Champagne customers buy and the evolution in prices—rose 5.6% in the first nine months of the year. Competitor Laurent-Perrier said its price-mix effect increased 7.6% between April and September, and its net profit tripled.

That marks a sharp contrast with discounted Champagne in French supermarkets last December, when some bubbly was marked down to less than €10 a bottle.

This year, 1,500 visitors paid €25 each to attend 1855’s champagne tasting at a luxury hotel in Paris. They swarmed tables serving such brands as Mumm Grand Cru, Perrier-Jouët 2004 Belle Epoque and Louis Roederer 2004 Cristal. Within four hours, the party had run dry.

The Wall Street Journal

IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS INDIA WILL REACH ONE OF THE TOP TEN LARGEST CONSUMERS OF CHAMPAGNE ….says Daniel Lalonde of LVMH

Daniel Lalonde, Chief Executive of LVMH is in India for the first time. Being interviewed at the top floor of Delhi’s recently opened Leela Palace Hotel, he states: “India is acquiring a taste for Champagne. Not only is it the 27th largest consumer of Champagne in the world,” he says. “But I believe that in the next few years India can easily reach the top 10.”

India is doing its bit. A few kilometers south, at the F Bar nightclub, where Lalonde’s company has established a Dom Perignon lounge to promote its luxury Champagne. Indians flush with money frequently a few times a week and spend upwards of Rs35,000 a bottle on bubbly.

Liz Palmer
@champagnehouses