There should be extra cause to pop the cork this festive season - the price of champagne is expected to rapidly drop due to the economic downturn.
Industry experts predict even the vintage bubbles to decrease to around £10-£12 a bottle by Christmas - that’s about half of what it’s currently retailing at.
During the first half of this year champagne sales dropped by 45 per cent - quite a steep fall considering the UK is the largest export market.
While revellers will be enjoying the price slashes it is not expected to last long as France announced plans to half grape production for next year.
However, reap while you can, as there are discounts a plenty to be had, with Majestic taking 40 per cent off Taittinger Brut Réserve now at £23.99 a bottle and is doing the same for for Veuve Clicquot Vintage 2002, now at at £33.99.
Now is the time to get your hands on a bottle of Bollinger Grande Année Rosé 1999 - down to £85 from £127. Moet & Chandon can now be supped for as little as £19.99 a bottle if you get along to Oddbins. - down 22 per cent. Majestic’s 56 per cent profit losses are thought to be mainly due to the lack of champagne sales.
Robert Joseph, editor of Meininger’s Wine Business International magazine,suggested premium brand champagne producers would be hesitant to knock their prices down to avoid devaluing their brand, however he added that supplies would be plentiful, which would cause prices to drop.
He said, “The big brands will try to keep out of it but there are rumours that one or two are already dropping their prices.
“We are not going to see £5 bottles of champagne, but it’s not impossible that we’ll be seeing it at £10 and £15.”
There is currently around four years’ worth of the sparkly stuff holing up in champagne houses throughout France. A lot of it is vintage from past years - it has to be matured over a period of 39 months first.
Mr Joseph added, “Non-vintage champagne that we are getting now would be from the 2008 harvest with a bit of 2007 in it.
“There is a lot of champagne lying about in cellars in France. Because of the credit crunch people just aren’t buying it — and that is not just in the UK, that is in France and across the world.
“They are already selling it in France at eight or nine euros a bottle. Non-vintage will clearly be available at sub-£10 at Christmas. Some even feel that vintage champagne will not cost that much more.”
However, he warns not to buy based on price alone, “There is no way of knowing what sort of quality of champagne will be reduced, but the general rule is that if you aren’t paying for it you rarely get it.”
Some of the big supermarkets are advertising rock bottome prices for champers this Christmas. A Morrisons representative said,
“As champagne prices are falling, there will be some great offers for our customers to look out for in the run-up to Christmas.”
