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What A Difference A Year Makes
“standfirst”>The UK Champagne market is polarising between non-vintage and prestige cuvées, with vintage Champagne feeling the squeeze. Now Moët, Krug and Mumm think it’s high time vintage was promoted, says Patrick Schmitt
Vintage Champagne has something of a challenge on its hands. It must convince the consumer of its worth without resorting to the creation of an entirely different proposition. As Alex Hunt at Mayfair Cellars, UK agents for Jacquesson, ponders, outlining the problem for vintage Champagne, “It is a model within a marque, rather than an entity in its own right.” In other words, non-vintage flies the flag for any Champagne house and the prestige cuvée has its own identity – be it a famous figure, Dom Perignon/Winston Churchill, or a memorable bottle, think Cristal. Vintage, on the other hand, sits somewhere in the middle, with similar brand cues to its NV sibling and a price approaching that of its prestige cousin.
How, then, can the Champenois encourage consumers to try vintage in their march towards the top end, the prestige cuvée? Simple. Brand owners and generic bodies must explain the merits of vintage, its benefits over non-vintage in terms of style and quality. However, the difficulty is that image is key when it comes to Champagne, not the finer details of grape selection and ageing times. It is also generally a drink of celebration, and wine values, key to describing vintage, aren’t really relevant to Champagne’s most common drinking occasion – which is as an aperitif.
Hence, there is this misunderstood mid-sector in Champagne. NV sales continue to increase and prestige cuvées are booming, but vintage seems slow to really grow. The only area of Champagne really selling on the basis of style alone is rosé, which is surging forward in terms of sales – up 28% year on year according to ACNielsen. The distinction between rosé and other Champagne styles, is of course, plain for consumers to see; it is visibly different. Visual clues to vintage versus NV Champagne are generally subtle when it comes to the label and imperceptible once it is poured.
The other difficulty with vintage Champagne is it’s hard to really pick out the size and movement of the market. Nearly all prestige cuvées are vintage Champagnes and are included in data grouped as “vintage”. But, CIVC figures suggest that of the almost 35 million bottles shipped to the UK in 2004, just under 591,000 were prestige cuvées, representing some 1.69% of the imports of all Champagnes into Britain. Of that 591,000 bottles of prestige cuvée Champagne, some 495,000 were vintage prestige cuvées, and overall vintage Champagne imports to the UK were nearly 1.2m bottles in 2004, or 3.4% of the market. That leaves 705,000 bottles of vintage Champagne that isn’t sold as a prestige cuvée, by simply subtracting the 495,000 bottles of vintage prestige from the 1.2m bottles of vintage shipped to the UK. If one does the same for 2003, when the amount of vintage prestige cuvées imported was 325,600 bottles, and total vintage Champagne shipped was 1.3m, it appears sales of vintage were 974,000 bottles, showing that prestige is growing at the expense of vintage.
Value growth
As for the latest Nielsen figures, these show the vintage category (including prestige vintage) up 10% (MAT to July 10) in volume and 14% in value. Non-vintage is rising by 4% in volume and 6% in value, proving at least both categories are growing in value ahead of volume.
But it seems vintage should be attracting the punters in greater quantities. With a price increase over non-vintage of usually under or around £10 it is more accessible than a Champagne house’s prestige cuvée, but still an important notch up, and one that often represents extremely good value for the consumer. As John West, managing director of Veuve Clicquot UK, says of his brand’s vintage offering, “For 45% extra on the price of the non-vintage you are getting something double the age – so quite a bargain.” Furthermore, as Anna Adsetts, brand manager for Mumm, points out, “People are now much more comfortable drinking Champagne in all sorts of situations and are looking to define those special moments with something else, more vintage products.” And for the houses themselves, the vintage category is becoming increasingly important as margin pressures on NVs become ever tighter in the off-trade.
But what can be done to really boost sales of vintage? As noted earlier, highlighting the inherent differences of vintage as opposed to nonvintage Champagne is necessary. It is safe to assume that few consumers actually understand what vintage Champagne is, while Ruinart UK’s managing director, George Atkinson-Clark, says any confusion is “compounded by some brands putting dates on NV, for example release or disgorgement dates”. Moet & Chandon’s brand director Caroline Sutcliffe admits, “We are seeing the vintage expressions of Grande Marques suffering somewhat from a lack of consumer understanding about why trading up to an older vintage is really worthwhile.” And Bill Gunn MW, managing director, Pol Roger UK, would like to see “more generic activity to extol the virtues of vintage”, as he is concerned that the sector has been somewhat neglected. Certainly, the CIVC points out that promoting vintage is “one of our priorities, and vintage has the potential to perform even better, providing we give the trade and consumers the information and tools to understand the category.”
Press coverage
Recommendations from journalists are useful in boosting sales of vintage Champagne, and the press are often keen to write up what is essentially the least commercialised of the three Champagne levels – NV, vintage and prestige.
Christophe Lagrange, commercial and marketing director for Jacquart, believes one of the reasons sales of Jacquart vintage have increased in this country relative to other styles is because of “the newspaper coverage we have had”, as well as the number of awards the house’s ‘98 vintage in particular has attracted.
For most brand owners, however, getting the message across to the consumer requires the help of the ontrade. In fact, sales of vintage Champagne, it is anecdotally suggested, are mostly through the restaurant sector and night trade. “It is about educating consumers and we have predominantly an on-trade focus as it’s difficult to do in an off-trade environment,” says Adsetts about Mumm’s campaign next year to promote the brand’s vintage offering. It has recently been repackaged because it was felt the label was too similar to the NV. “We are planning Champagne and food pairing dinners in London and the regions,” she explains, “and we are looking at putting the ‘95 against the ‘96 to show how different the style is” – something consumers are highly unlikely to do at home.
Similarly, Krug has just launched a trilogy of vintages (‘88, ’89, ‘90) which it is hoping to find listings for in the on-trade. “Having three vintages side by side forces the question, what is the difference between them?” comments Fred Scarlett, Krug’s brand manager at Moët Hennessy. Of course, Krug NV and vintage are certainly classed as prestige cuvées, but MHUK’s work with Krug vintage will be important for the further understanding of vintage Champagne at all levels.
But surely brand loyalty to certain Champagne houses is closely linked to a consistent style of wine? How does that fit with vintage variation? For Rémi Krug “vintage character is a climate issue”, but the style of the house still leaves its stamp. “I like my Champagne to says this is Krug and an ‘89, in that order. It is like a new novel from someone you like, you have expectations from past novels,” he says.
Gunn at Pol Roger, a house famed for its vintage, believes, “There is stronger loyalty to brands in vintage than nonvintage, and the house style is perhaps even more accentuated, because when the character of the year comes into play the house can really leave its imprint.”
And it’s probably fair to note that consumers trading up to vintage are more likely to rely on the general good name or reputation of their chosen house, rather than any hype around the year, although good press surrounding vintages such as 1996 can only help the sector. Another advantage of the on-trade is that it offers consumers the chance to try vintage Champagne without committing to a whole bottle. “The on-trade provides a great trialling opportunity for a relatively small increase in cost,” says Atkinson-Clark. “Bythe- glass sales mean people can trade up from £9 for a glass of NV to £13 for vintage. Consumers are less prepared in the off-trade to make the jump from £26/£27 to £37/£38 for vintage.”
The restaurant sector is also the one area where staff can encourage consumers to try vintage with food. Few treat Champagne like a wine but vintage is one style which arguably should be drunk like wine, and served with food. Atkinson-Clark says he would “like to see more in the ontrade recommending by-theglass or bottled vintage with food as generally vintage goes better with food [than NV]”. Krug’s Scarlett, meanwhile, “will be doing a couple of consumer dinners with the Krug trilogy of vintages because the Champagne goes well with food”. Apparently, as much as 70% of Krug ends up in private cellars, and Scarlett wants that “rebalanced”.
Off-trade forcus
The off-trade, however, is still important for sales of vintage, and several houses are hoping to increase sales in this sector. Bollinger, for instance, although notable for recently reclassifying its Grand Année as a prestige cuvée (surely a strong sign of where the growth really lies?), has been advertising its vintage Champagne in consumer magazines, like the FT’s How To Spend It, in the hope it might increase sales. It is also giving away a Riedel glass with its Grand Année because, as Simon Leschallas, Bollinger director at Mentzendorff, says, “We’ve got a bit of stock to play with and we want to remind people that Grand Année exists, so we are giving it a little nudge.”
Gift boxing at key times, for instance Christmas and Valentine’s Day, is also important in promoting vintage, according to Paul Beavis, commercial director at Lanson International UK. Meanwhile, Lynn Murray, marketing controller at Hatch Mansfield, UK agents for Taittinger, records the importance of staff incentives in the off-trade when it comes to vintage, because “recommendations at this level are much more important.” She also notes that Taittinger vintage does well in Thresher, Oddbins and Majestic, mainly because such retailers promote the Champagne category as a whole, which includes any vintage on shelf. This does allow consumers to buy vintage for the price of NV, although the price difference between the two stays the same.
Off-promotion, however, it is supermarket own-label vintage Champagnes which allow the consumer a chance to try this style of Champagne for branded NV prices and lower. Dee Blackstock MW, Champagne buyer at Waitrose, points out that the supermarket doesn’t promote its vintage Champagne, which is priced at £20.99 yet sales during August were up 22%. However, she also notes that Moët, Clicquot and Bollinger vintage Champagnes all have a low rate of sale, although gradual increases are occurring “with supplier support for in-branch tastings”. Moët’s Sutcliffe in particular notes that the brand leader “is determined to understand the vintage sector in more depth”, and one should expect a strategy to increase sales of vintage next year.
Finally, if there’s one positive aspect to vintage Champagne it is the following it has built up among wine connoisseurs. “Vintage is a real wine drinkers’ Champagne,” says Mayfair Cellar’s Hunt. “Consumers are more likely to lay it down or drink it with food and less likely to spray it over the walls of a club.” Veuve’s West agrees, noting that, “Prestige cuvée is more about marking an extra special occasion or in some cases about visible display. Vintage is a bit more introspective, consumed by and shared with people who enjoy the difference.”
Although one can view vintage as a category caught in the middle, it is also a useful stepping stone in the giant leap between NV and prestige – a way of attracting serious drinkers up the quality ladder. The fear is, however, as Gunn says, “If the cold economic wind really started to blow then vintage could end up the victim as people would polarise between non-vintage and the prestige sector.” Why? Because vintage is still not a strong enough proposition to survive when the times are tough.