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The Champagne appellation must accept declining sales figures and prices. At the annual general meeting of the Association Viticole Champenoise (AVC), current figures were announced: The projected sales figures after the first ten months suggest a total sales volume of 268 million bottles for 2025. This is 1.3 percent below the 271.7 million bottles of the previous year. One of the main reasons for this is the continued decline in sales in France, the most important market. These have shrunk from 185 million bottles in 2010 by 36 percent to 118 million bottles in 2024 over the past 15 years. The current figures suggest a further decline of 3.2 percent. Worldwide, average selling prices are also decreasing, as expensive prestige cuvées are increasingly being replaced by cheaper non-vintage champagnes. According to the wine industry consulting firm Wine Lister, champagne prices have fallen by around twelve percent globally over the past three years. In comparison: During the same period, wines from Burgundy recorded a price drop of 29 percent, Bordeaux by 13 percent.
Contrary to producers' expectations, sales in the largest export market, the USA, have been maintained despite the new tariffs. However, customs statistics show that the average bottle price has fallen by around 23 percent between October 2024 and September 2025. Although many producers have likely absorbed at least part of the new tariffs. However, the Euro, which has appreciated against the US dollar, is likely to have nullified this effect.
According to AVC, stock levels in 2024 were at 1.279 billion bottles. This corresponds to a consumption of 4.75 years. According to AVC, an ideal stock level would be for 4.2 years. Wine Lister surveyed 51 retailers worldwide about the trade's confidence in the champagne brand. This has decreased by an average of 5.8 percent compared to 2018, with grower champagne achieving the highest values despite slight losses. Family-run houses remained almost stable, while the big brands lost an average of ten percent. An analysis of search queries in online search engines showed that Champagne achieved more than three times the average search queries of the second-placed region Bordeaux. Champagne increased by one percent in this ranking, Bordeaux by seven, and Burgundy by 53 percent.
A positive piece of news concerns the goal of the Champagne appellation to reduce the CO₂ footprint by 25 percent by 2025. This has already been exceeded with a reduction of 27 percent to 580,583 tons. According to AVC, this is mainly due to the lighter bottles, which now weigh 835 instead of 900 grams.
(al; Source: wine-searcher, Wine Lister)
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