Champagne prices jump by +11% in 2023

According to a recent investigation by the French magazine L'Obs and the results of an analysis launched by Circana, a consumer research institute, inflation has inevitably played a role in the rise in prices, although this does not explain the whole story. Champagne remains a luxury product, with constant demand and less sensitive to price variations. While spirits prices rose by an average of 7.5%, champagne prices rose more sharply.

Last year's grape harvest was very large, with the industry able to count on an average of 12,000 kilos per hectare in 2022, a generous quantity and the largest for some fifteen years. Also, in 2022, champagne prices had already risen by 7%, an increase considered "reasonable" by producers. By 2023, however, it will have increased by more than 10%. To understand this, we need to look at production and raw material prices: grapes from the last harvest rose by 10% compared to 2021, taking the base price per kilo of grapes from €6.35 to over €7. This increase inevitably had an impact on the final price.

The years 2020 and 2021 had been more complex due to the health crisis and the vagaries of the weather that had affected the vineyards.

Another factor was the surge in demand for champagne in 2022, which accelerated the "upmarket" marketing policy that producers had been hoping for for some time. Equally decisive was that electricity bills - essential for cellar cooling systems - had doubled in a year, and the cost of glass bottles had risen by 40%, even as much as 56%.

By 2022, the champagne market had generated record global sales of €6.3 billion. However, the significant increase in champagne prices forecast for 2023 (+10% on average) could have a negative effect on sales and put paid to producers' desire to "move upmarket".

The co-chairman of the Comité Champagne, David Chatillon, has already voiced his fears for the future since a drop in champagne sales of -1.7% has already been recorded for the first half of 2023.