Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning English monarch, ends each night with a glass of champagne.
Her majesty’s cousin Margaret Rhodes reports that Elizabeth II drinks at least one glass of champagne before bed. The exact brand of her nightly libation is unknown, it’s almost certainly one of the eight brands that have been granted royal warrants, including Bollinger, Krug, Lanson, and Pol Roger.
Under EPI ownership, Charles Heidsieck is planning to resurrect its prestige cuvée called Champagne Charlie, which was axed in 1985 when Rémy Martin bought the brand.
Champagne Charlie was launched with the 1979 vintage, and was named after the founder of the house, Charles-Camille Heidsieck, known as Champagne Charlie.
According Stephen Leroux, “Champagne Charlie will come back”… “We have made the wine, but it won’t hit the market for 5-6 years.”
Explaining why the prestige cuvée was discontinued, he said that Rémy stopped producing Champagne Charlie in 1985 after acquiring the house because the group included Krug, which was prioritized as the top-end Champagne in the stable.
“There was Krug, Charles Heidsieck and Piper [Heidsieck], and Krug was the prestige Champagne, Piper the commercial one, and Charles was supposed to be the niche and good-value Champagne, but there was no focus on it,” he recalled.
While Krug was sold to LVMH in 1999, Charles and Piper were acquired by EPI in 2011, under the new owner both houses have been undergoing a repositioning as the company, which is 100% owned by the Descours family, is bringing the houses back to their former glory.
But for those unable to wait for the rebirth of Champagne Charlie, Leroux said that the house is releasing historic vintages of the vintage-dated prestige cuvée from its cellar.
“In the meantime we are selling some of the old Champagne Charlie from five vintages, ’79, ’81, ’82, ’83 and ’85, and this will be under an oenoteque concept in very small quantities.”
The price of these late releases, some of which have already been disgorged, will range from £300 to £600 per bottle, according to Leroux, who also said that all late-releases direct from the Charles Heidsieck cellars would, from this year, receive a special label.
“We are coming up with new labelling for our older vintages, so whether it is Champagne Charlie, Blanc de Millénaires, or Royal Cuvée, there will be new packaging for these wines, which will be released in tiny quantities,” he said. (Charles Heidsieck released a Royal Wedding Cuvée to celebrate the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in July 1981).
Source: Drinks Business
On the heels of yesterday’s 89th Oscars nominations announcement, Piper-Heidsieck, the revered Champagne house, announced its return to the red carpet as the Champagne to be served during the 2017 Academy Awards season.
To honor this partnership, Piper-Heidsieck has created a limited-edition magnum to be poured exclusively at the ceremony and Governors Ball. An exceptional bottle for an exceptional night, the Piper-Heidsieck Cuvée Brut magnum is enrobed in red and features a design of gold film that encircles the bottle.
The 2017 Academy Awards season marks the third year of a long-term partnership between Piper-Heidsieck and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“On behalf of Piper-Heidsieck, I want to congratulate all the nominees for this great recognition by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,” said Benoit Collard, global executive director of Piper-Heidsieck. “Piper-Heidsieck has a long and rich association with cinema and is proud to return to the Oscars, the ultimate arbiter of cinematic achievement in film.”
In addition to the awards ceremony on February 26, Piper-Heidsieck will be poured at Academy events in Los Angeles, New York and London, including the Oscars Nominees Luncheon on February 6.
Get red carpet ready for Oscars® night with Piper-Heidsieck! #PiperReady
Champagne shipped a total of 306.6 million bottles in 2016, a decline of 2% from 2015.According to the estimates released by Comité Champagne this past week, Champagne shipments worldwide, including the French market, fell by 6 million bottles in the past 12 months compared to the same period in 2015, when the region shipped a total of 312.5m bottles.
The final figure of 306.6m for 2016 means that Champagne sales have now dropped back below 2014’s total, which amounted to 307.1m bottles, taking the region even further from its record, which was achieved ten years ago in 2007, when it shipped almost 338.8m bottles (see figures below).
Explaining the fall in the number of bottles shipped in 2016, Jean-Marie Barillère, who is president of the Union des Maisons de Champagne, told Drinks Business that the decline was a result of falling sales in the French and British markets.
“The total decrease has been done by France and England,” he said.
As much as two thirds of the 6m global decline can be attributed to France alone, which sold 4m fewer bottles in 2017 – last year’s domestic market for Champagne totaled 158m bottles, compared to 162m in 2016.
Meanwhile, Barillère recorded that Champagne shipments to the UK alone had fallen by around 3m bottles, in contrast to other European nations such as Spain and Italy, which, he said, had enjoyed increases, meaning that the EU (excluding France) accounted for 77.5m bottles in 2016, down from 80.2m in 2015.
Outside its domestic market and Europe, Champagne did enjoy growth in 2016, but with a modest 0.5% increase, this represented an extra 600,000 bottles from 70.3m in 2015 to 70.9m last year.
Although the figures for value have yet to be released, Barillère said that the total would be down by 1-2% due to exchange rates, although he stressed that 2017 would be Champagne’s second highest ever year for turnover, having set a new record in 2016, when it reached €4.75 billion.
Indeed, if the drop was the full 2%, a total of €4.65bn for 2016 would still surpass the previous record set in 2007, when sales reached €4.56bn prior to the global financial slowdown.
The decline in shipments for 2016 has surprised some in the region, particularly as the yields set in June last year for the 2016 harvest were designed to deliver a production of 315m bottles, slightly higher than the shipment total for 2015.
Usually the yields are set to bring about a supply of Champagne that is similar if not a bit higher than the current demand.
Explaining why the yields were set to produce 315m bottles, Michel Letter, managing director of Mumm and Perrier Jouët, told db that the global market for Champagne was looking more promising in May and June last year when the yields were set*, adding that the French and UK markets had declined more than expected, while the US had not risen as much as many in Champagne had initially thought.
Summing up, he admitted, “We were a bit optimistic”.
* The yield for the 2016 harvest was set in June at 9,700 kilos per hectare with a further 1,100kg/ha to be taken from the reserve at the start of February. This produces approximately 283m bottles from the harvest with a further 32m bottles coming from the reserve, making a total production of 315m bottles.
Figures from the Comité Champagne for 2016, with % change compared to 2015:
Total shipments for 2016: 306.6m bottles (down 1.9%)
Total revenue (estimate) €4.65 billion (down 2%)
France: 158.1 million bottles (down 2.3%)
EU countries (other than France): 77.5 million bottles (down 3.3%)
Exports outside the EU: 70.9 million bottles (up 0.5%)
Champagne global shipments over the past 11 years (volume, bottles)
2006: 321.8m
2007: 338.8m
2008: 322.6m
2009: 293.3m
2010: 319.5m
2011: 323.0m
2012: 308.6m
2013: 305.0m
2104: 307.1m
2015: 312.5m
2016: 306.6m
Champagne global shipments over the past 11 years (value, Euros)
2006: 4.179bn
2007: 4.558bn
2008: 4.440bn
2009: 3.728bn
2010: 4.108bn
2011: 4.408bn
2012: 4.382bn
2013: 4.365bn
2104: 4.500bn
2015: 4.750bn
2016: 4.650bn
Sources: The Drinks Business – January 2017, and
Comité Champagne (CIVC)
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2017/01/champagne-shipments-drop-2-to-306-6m-bottles/
The Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB) has recently voted and approved the Cités des Vins de Bourgogne. This new wine tourism, cultural and education facility will be built on three sites located in Mâcon, Beaune, and Chablis.
According to Louis-Fabrice Latour, President of the BIVB, it will be “a project that will affect an entire generation”. Partners include the Association for the Climats of Bourgogne, the tourism industry, and local and regional authorities.
The main site of the Cités des Vins will be located just outside the town of Beaune, which will also include a five-star hotel.
From the Cité des Vins de Bourgogne –“Each Cité des Vins de Bourgogne is a place where people can find out about Bourgogne wines, with shared content and communication tools, each site also acting as a local showcase. The Climats of the Bourgogne winegrowing region, included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and a real differentiator for Bourgogne wines, will be presented in each site, in Chablis, Beaune, and Mâcon.”
This project has won € 17.1 from BIVB and local authorities.
Next steps:
– To define the economic and legal model for each of the Cité des Vins de Bourgogne;
– To select the architects and exhibition designers for the Cités des Vins in Mâcon and Chablis;
– To work with the city of Beaune on integrating the Cité des Vins into the urban project; and
– To design the museographical model of the whole.
