Champagne sales are plummeting rapidly – because no one feels like celebrating anymore

People are no longer raising a glass of Champagne to life's special moments, it seems, as new figures reveal that sales of the iconic fizz have fallen for the second year in a row.

Last year, total Champagne shipments from France fell by 9.2 per cent, with 271.4 million bottles sent out, according to a new report from Comité Champagne, the trade body representing over 16,000 winegrowers and 320 Champagne houses.

In a rather sobering take on the trend, Maxime Toubart, president of the Champagne Winegrowers and co-president of Comité Champagne, described Champagne as "a true barometer of consumer mood," adding that this is "no time for celebration, with inflation, conflicts around the world, economic uncertainty and a political wait-and-see attitude in some of Champagne’s biggest markets, such as France and the US." Put simply, no one feels like celebrating.

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Champagne is falling out of favour on home turf, with domestic sales in France down 7.2 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023. Only 118.2 million bottles were sold within the country, while exports, which make up over half of total sales, dropped 10.8 per cent to 153.2 million bottles.

David Chatillon, president of the Champagne Houses and co-president of the Comité Champagne, believes that challenging times call for forward thinking.

He says, "It's in less favourable times that we need to prepare for the future, to maintain our trajectory in terms of sustainable development and in terms of conquest of new markets and new consumers."

He adds that Champagne benefits from "a solid, sustainable organisational model that has proved its value, even in the face of adversity, which gives it confidence in the future."

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