Tag: Champagne

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Champagne Jacquesson Purchased by Pinault Family

Champagne Jacquesson front label

François Pinault, owner of Artémis Domaines, has finalised the acquisition of Champagne Jacquesson.

In February last year, Artémis Domaines took control of a minority stake of 33% in Champagne Jacquesson. At the time there was speculation that a full takeover would ensue later in the year. Managing the Dizy-based operation with his brother Laurent since 1990, Jean-Hervé Chiquet has confirmed that the complete takeover happened in December 2022. Chiquet commented: ‘When we bought back Michael Mackenzie’s shares (in the company) at the end of 2020, we started to think about a new partner and found that Artémis Domaines was interested. We started to discuss options with them and agreed on their arrival as a minority shareholder last February.’

‘Since then, we have had time to get to know each other and, as Laurent and I have no successor in our family, we have decided to put Jacquesson in the best hands possible to guarantee its future and to be sure that our dedication to quality will remain or even be improved,’ Chiquet added. Although he and his brother won’t be actively involved in managing the company, ‘we will continue to supply the company with grapes from our own vineyards and I will stay on as a member of the board but without an operational role,’ Jean-Hervé added.

Located in Dizy outside of Epernay, the Jacquesson estate was purchased by Jean-Hervé and Laurent’s father in the 1970s. The estate dates back to the 18th century and Joseph Krug worked there before he founded his own house in 1843. The brothers have shaken up the ‘Brut sans année’ market with the introduction of their Cuvée 700 concept. Their first release – Cuvée 728 – centred on the 2000 harvest and was released in 2004.

Chiquet, who has previously spoken about his and his brother’s approach, said: ‘The Cuvée 700 concept is unique in Champagne and is the opposite of a non-vintage wine. We seek excellence rather than homogeneity, respect for the character of the vintage rather than its denial, and the preference to create a “house style”, the doctrine most other producers in Champagne follow for their non-vintage blends. Our Cuvée 700 is the only blended wine we produce; it is meant to be the expression of a year and thus each year offers a different identity which we recognise by numbering the cuvée.’

Read more about the Pinault family’s 2022 acquisition of Champagne Henriot.

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Champagne Producers Fight Against Zero Herbicide U-Turn

stormy skies over champagne vineyard

Winemakers in Champagne have written an open letter – published in Le Monde on the 6th of December – that voiced their opposition to the professional bodies’ reneging on a commitment to phaze out the use of all chemical herbicides in the region by 2025.

The date was significant: it was the day of the Annual General Meeting of the Association Viticole Champenoise (AVC). At the AGM, both the Syndicat General des Vignerons (SGV) and the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC) had officially announced – five years previously – that herbicides would be banned.

Jean-Marie Barillère, former president of the UMC, commented in 2018: ‘There are only two possible outcomes: either we move forwards or we are forced to move, with all the risks the latter entails in ecological terms, in terms of image and therefore in economic terms for our industry and our businesses. I prefer to forge a path towards a virtuous Champagne, rather than keep dwelling on the past.’

Maxime Toubart, president of the Syndicat General des Vignerons, also said at the 2018 AGM: ‘Our objective is, in a few years’ time, to be able to talk about a 100% sustainable Champagne, that takes its commitments seriously and can be held up as an example, and which can proudly proclaim: zero herbicides.’

Despite previous assurances, in 2022, Toubart refused to add the zero-herbicide policy to the cahier des charges: the Champagne appellation’s rulebook. Because of this, the dispute between the SGV, the Association Biologique Champenoise (ACB) and a union of organic growers, has only gained momentum.

President of the ACB, Jérôme Bourgeois, commented: ‘It is unacceptable that a prestigious appellation like Champagne can even imagine walking back a core environmental promise made five years ago, especially in today’s ecological climate.’

While the main Champagne body (the CIVC) didn’t comment on the open letter at the 2022 Annual General Meeting, David Châtillon – UMC president – did speak about the importance of preserving ‘Champagne’s perceived image’. Promisingly, he also made it clear that the Champagne region is committed to its zero-herbicide pledge, although no deadline was given.

In their address, Toubert added that ‘Champagne was greener than it ever had been before.’ This was supported by Arnaud Descotes, the CIVC’s technical director, who highlighted that the new herbicide law brought in last year has restricted the number of treatments permitted, as well as which herbicides are allowed.

Whether the initial deadline to rule out herbicides by 2025 will be met remains to be seen. However, one thing is for sure, those who signed the open letter are still keeping up the pressure: ‘We, Champagne winegrowers, Champagne houses and members of cooperatives, call upon the SGV and the UMC to continue implementing their progress strategy by respecting the deadline of ‘Zero Herbicides by 2025’, embracing an effective and sustainable commitment of our sector, in the interests of all stakeholders in the Champagne region and our fellow citizens.’

Read more recent Champagne news: Moët Hennessy’s Champagne Stocks Running Low.

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Moët Hennessy’s Champagne Stocks Running Low

Bottle of Krug Grande Cuvee

Moët Hennessy’s CEO has commented that due to high demand from affluent buyers in the run up to Christmas, its Champagnes are ‘running out of stock’.

Philippe Schaus, Moët Hennessy’s CEO, spoke to Bloomberg Television and said that the French luxury company – that owns top Champagne brands including, Dom Pérignon, Krug, Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot – was ‘running out of stock’ of some of its bubbly. This is mainly due to Covid rules having been relaxed and more people socialising.

‘As people are coming out of Covid there’s been pent up demand for luxury, enjoyment and travelling,’ Schaus commented.

Schaus didn’t elaborate on which Champagnes were running low, or hint at what the state-of-play is with specific brands’ stock levels.

Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) shared last month that its wine and spirit divisions had delivered double-digit revenue growth in Q3 of this year. Still wines and Champagne were the best performing categories. 

The luxury conglomerate announced that sales had risen ‘sharply’ this year in Europe, the United States and Japan. The two main drivers of this growth can be attributed to international travel resuming after the pandemic, as well as ‘solid demand’ from consumers.

On the subject of the strength of the US dollar in the market, Bloomberg made the point that strong growth might simply have been because US shoppers were able to take advantage of this by buying luxury items in Europe. However, Schaus indicated that there is still uncertainty out there due to rising inflation. It’s possible that some products will go up in price due to the rising cost of raw materials. 

Find out more about Dom Pérignon’s new P2 2004 release in our recent news article.

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Dom Pérignon Reveals the 2004 Plénitude 2

Bottle of Plenitude 2004

Dom Pérignon is launching its new 2004 Vintage Plénitude 2 (P2) Champagne this month in Hong Kong where the prestigious Champagne house has also announced its brand new member of the Hong Kong Dom Pérignon Society.

The Plénitude 2 wines represent the Champagne being ‘elevated to its second life’. With ‘close to 15 years of slow transformation in the cellars’, the wines take on a new ‘vitality’ with this extra maturation.

This launch focuses on the 2004 vintage, a year which the maison commented on as being ‘a year of renaissance and calm’. While August was cooler than normal, the weeks that superseded it brought a dry heat that allowed the vines to grow the ripest and fullest fruit.

The house has now released its tasting notes for the new 2004 expression which has some 18 years of age. On the nose, expect ‘citrusy notes of pink grapefruit and blood orange, which gently cede to figs’. There’s also plenty of brioche and roasted nuts on the palate with this new release ending with an elegant finish.

William Kelley at Wine Advocate awarded this new 2004 vintage 95 points and proclaimed that it is ‘drinking beautifully on release’.

The Dom Pérignon Society is a global network of top chefs and proponents whose main focus is on Plénitude 2. The newest member of this elite group, which comprises 64 global chefs and restaurants, is Chef Julien Tongourian who works at Hong Kong’s L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon.

Tongourian will now join his two fellow Hong Kong counterparts: Chef Maxime Gilbert of two Michelin-starred Écriture and Chef Richard Ekkebus at Amber at Landmark Mandarin Oriental which also has two Michelin stars.

To launch the 2004 Dom Pérignon P2, each of the three Dom Pérignon Society Members in Hong Kong have created a special menu to accompany this new Champagne release. Each menu will represent an interpretation of a key moment in each of the Chefs’ careers. The menus are available now at the above three Hong Kong restaurants for a limited time.

Read more news from the Champagne world in this recent article about Champagne Henriot’s merger.

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Champagne Sells for Record $2.5 Million at Auction

Bottle of Champagne Avenue Foch on table with glasses

A magnum of Château Avenue Foch 2017 has sold for a record-breaking US$2.5 million at auction, making it the world’s most expensive Champagne and perhaps the world’s most expensive wine. Interestingly, the magnum wasn’t the sole item in the auction lot. The Champagne also came accompanied by an NFT – a non-fungible token – a digital image that trades on the blockchain. The NFT is of a ‘Bored Ape Mutant’ whose face features on the bottle and that was designed in collaboration with the artist Mig. It also includes the digital image’s intellectual property rights.

The British entrepreneur Shammi Shinh was responsible for commissioning and selling the bottle and whose aim was to boost NFTs’ profile through associating it with the luxury fizz. ‘I’m hoping for more awareness — I want people to understand NFTs now’, he commented. Shinh also hinted that this may be the first in a series of limited edition bottlings. 

The successful buyers at auction were brothers Giovanni and Piero Buono. They are Italian investors in cryptocurrencies, as well as in fashion and technology markets. However, while they are involved with cryptocurrencies, the purchase was reportedly made in dollars – as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Giovanni confirmed to the paper that they have no plans to open the bottle.

Château Avenue Foch is a new Champagne brand that’s made from Premier Cru grapes grown at the family-owned estate of Allouchery in Chamery.

Want to discover the ten most expensive wines in the world? From Burgundy to Bordeaux, we’ve put together a list of the world’s most expensive bottles, and their intriguing stories, in our article here.

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Champagne Lanson to sell on La Place de Bordeaux

Lanson's Le Clos walled vineyard

Le Clos Lanson is set to become the second Champagne ever to be sold on La Place de Bordeaux, one of the world’s oldest marketplaces. The single vineyard expression – and Champagne Lanson’s top cuvée – follows Champagne Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses onto the historic marketplace.

La Place de Bordeaux is over 800 years old and is a distribution system that consists of around 300 négociants (distributors) and courtiers (middlemen) who buy and sell wines from Bordeaux châteaux. Historically, La Place only sold wines that were made in Bordeaux. However, in 1998 the marketplace opened its doors to its first non-Bordeaux bottling: Viña Almaviva’s 1996 vintage, a joint venture between Château Mouton-Rothschild and Chile’s Concha y Toro. In subsequent years, more and more non-Bordeaux wine producers have been invited to sell on La Place. Think Napa’s Opus One, Australia’s Penfolds Grange and Argentina’s Catena Zapata.

The advantage of selling wines on La Place is its access to global markets and experience selling into Asia, especially China. Négociants have salespeople around the world primed to sell high-end wines. Lanson’s president, François Van Aal, commented on this new approach:

‘This distribution method will enable our icon cuvée to reach a larger amount of wine lovers and collectors around the world, while strengthening the awareness of our Champagne house which is already present over 80 countries’.

Le Clos Lanson 2009 will be the first expression sold on the platform. This top cuvée is produced from 100% Chardonnay grapes harvested from a one-hectare, walled vineyard in the heart of Reims. Only just over 7,000 bottles, along with some magnums, were produced of the 2009 vintage.

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The Champagne Brands Driving Price Growth

Champagne in the cellar

Champagne looks set to capitalise on its excellent 2021 performance. Last year was fantastic for Champagne brands as sales figures for the category rocketed beyond pre-pandemic levels. Over 350 million bottles were exported worldwide last year and the appetite for French bubbles – synonymous with luxury, indulgence and good times – gained the most ground in the US which has now surpassed the UK (37.4%) as the largest export market by volume (39.1%). 

This price growth can be attributed to two things: restaurants, nightclubs and bars reopening worldwide, as well as ultra high net worth collectors focusing their attention on the category. With less supply available, prices surged.

The sky was the limit for Champagne in 2021 as it ended the year up 40% and at a record high level. 2022 looks incredibly promising for the category too as it’s up 9.6% so far this year. 

Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé

Prestige Champagne brands were the key price drivers in 2021 and the headline acts with the top performance were highly sought-after names including Louis Roederer Cristal (with high demand across the 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014 vintages). Interestingly, the most traded wine by value was the 99 point scoring Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2012 as the market for rosé Champagne expands. Other Grande Marques with top billing were the ultra-premium Salon (2007, 2006 and 2002 vintages), as well as Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne 2006 and Dom Pérignon’s Rosé 2005.

Non-Vintage Champagne

However, it wasn’t just vintage Champagne that sparkled. The trade of non-vintage (NV) Champagne also broke new ground and made up the most-traded part of the category. The market has also broadened with NV Champagne’s trade share up from 5.1% in 2018 to 17.6% in 2021.

With such impressive performance in 2021 as well as in Q1 this year, there’s no doubt that Champagne has now cemented its place in the secondary market for fine wine. What’s more, there is no other region where the top wines are still this affordable. Savvy investors who hold top Champagne know just how approachable this category is, when compared to the most prestigious Burgundies, top Napa wines and the very best of Bordeaux.

Want to find out more about investing in Champagne? Read WineCap’s in-depth analysis in our Champagne Report.

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Insight

Invest in Champagne

Worker riddling bottles of Champagne

Considering investing in Champagne?

It’s not necessarily the most costly, nor the rarest of fine wine. However, Champagne is supremely consistent, making it arguably one of the strongest and most appealing sectors of the fine wine market.

Its steadfast presence can be attributed to its brand strength, liquidity and an aura of exclusivity it maintains despite being well-known in the main. 200-plus years of expert marketing by the best producers is what arguably makes Champagne the most broadly understood luxury good in the world.

As with all fine wine, as Champagne ages, its quality improves. As it is consumed, its supply decreases. This virtuous circle drives prices over time. This luxurious bubbly tends to be released later than other investable wines and as consumption begins in earnest immediately, we can see the impact of this cycle faster.

Top Champagne Brands to look out for

For those considering investing in Champagne, the most important brands to keep in mind are Dom Pérignon, Cristal, Krug, Taittinger and Salon. Volumes produced vary considerably from producer to producer. Dom Pérignon is widely believed to make around 4,000,000 bottles a year across all their wines. In contrast, in 2020 Salon released just 8,000 bottles of their 2008.

The Best Champagne Vintages

The strongest vintages include 1996, 2002 and 2008. Unlike in Bordeaux or Burgundy, producers tend not to release vintage wines every year, emphasising the exclusivity. This means there are vanishingly few ‘bad’ Champagne vintages. Although of course, some are superior to others, it is no more necessary to focus on only exceptional vintages in Champagne than it is in other regions.

Over the past five years Krug’s value is up 75% and Dom Pérignon up by 65%. These numbers demonstrate that Champagne is a smart addition to any diversified investment portfolio and should no longer be considered just a celebratory indulgence.

Want to find out more about investing in Champagne? Read our in-depth report here.