CHAMPAGNE VINTAGE – In with the old

Traditionally sandwiched between non-vintage and prestige cuvées, vintage Champagne is finally gaining recognition following the efforts of the CIVC and branded houses anxious to promote the style. Fionnuala Synnott reports

Vintage Champagne is often described as the perfect stepping-stone from non-vintage to prestige cuvée Champagne. But, in reality, this style tends to be left out in the cold in a market that is polarized between non-vintage and prestige cuvées. However, recent attempts by the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) and the Champagne Information Bureau (CIB) to raise awareness and understanding of this style appear to be taking effect. The CIVC’s annual London Champagne tasting had a strong vintage slant this year while the CIB has ensured that press trips and PR stories have a significant vintage element to them. Bill Gunn, MD at Pol Roger, comments: “Although the market is still relatively polarized, progress is being made in vintage Champagne. The generic activity is certainly helping as is the support of certain Champagne houses.” Christophe Lagrange, commercial and marketing director at Champagne Jacquart, thinks that the CIVC campaign, combined with the maturity of the UK market, has sensitized customers to vintage Champagne. “In the on-trade, in particular, vintage is a way of standing out from the competition”, he says.

Now that the Champenois would have us believe that Champagne has become an “everyday luxury”, more houses are encouraging consumers to explore the different styles on the market. In the past, houses have been slow to promote their vintage Champagne preferring to promote their house style (NV) or brand (prestige cuvée) instead. However, there are signs that the worm is turning. “In Champagne, a lot of houses are talking about vintage and what they can do to promote it”, says Lynn Murray, marketing director at Hatch Mansfield.

Moët & Chandon’s recent launch of the Grand Vintage 2000 is perhaps the greatest sign of vintage Champagne’s growing importance. It is safe to say that if the leading Champagne brand has rebranded its vintage offering it is because there is a market for the style. Caroline Warner, brand director, says: “This is the first time we have aged a Champagne for six years before release. The response to Grand Vintage 2000 has been superb – some wine experts have compared it to extraordinary vintage years such as 1921 and 1962.” 

Commercial reality
It is unusual for Champagne houses to talk about the commercial realities of their market, and Champenois are just as cagey about giving details of their vintage Champagne sales. The latest figures from the CIVC and Nielsen show a slight increase in exports and sales of the style. Yet, in the case of most Champagne houses, the burgeoning awareness of vintage Champagne has not been translated into sales growth. Bertrand Verduzier, export director for Champagne Henriot, comments: “In the UK, vintage sales represent around 7.5% of Champagne sales, the rest is NV. There is therefore a gap between what producers and négociants want to offer and consumer perception of Champagne.” In Verduzier’s experience, most people tend to go for brands, with vintage Champagne largely being a connoisseur’s wine. “We have not witnessed an uplift in sales as a result of the CIVC campaign but it is still early days. Vintage sales tend to rise in relation to overall Champagne sales”, adds Murray.

Although sales of vintage Champagne may not be booming across the UK market, occasion-based consumption appears to be rising. Paul Beavis, MD of Lanson Champagne, has noted an upturn in vintage sales. He explains: “We have seen a big uplift in the catering environment at events such as  horse racing meetings, Wimbledon, and other occasions when people are out of their normal everyday setting.” Daniel Brennan, head of marketing at Laurent Perrier, agrees: “We have seen a significant increase in vintage sales as the consumer trades up in certain sectors, particularly in the on-trade, where certain accounts have converted from NV to vintage in a bid to offer a point of difference and greater value for money.” 

Niche product

Vintage Champagne will never replace the volume of NV sold or the iconic status of a prestige cuvée. From a technical perspective, the potential for growth in this style is also limited, for obvious reasons. Simon Swa, marketing manager at Louis Roederer, comments: “Although more exposure for vintage Champagne would be great, we don’t want to encourage a demand that we cannot satisfy.”

Meanwhile, the quality and consistency of NV Champagne is improving. “The potential of the vintage market will always be superseded by the need to make NV wines and Champagne producers will want to keep good reserve wines for this purpose. A house will always be judged on its NV, not its vintage Champagne”, says Terence Kenny, export manager at Champagne Pannier.

However, there are still considerable margins to be made from selling more vintage Champagne – particularly now that the NV market appears to be driven by discounting. Pol Roger’s Gunn says: “The commercial logic [of selling more vintage Champagne] is clear. All commercial pressures are centred on NV as this is where all the promotional activity is focused.”

Jean-Noël Girard, export director at Champagne Devaux, feels that too many Champagne houses are looking to vintage for cashflow and are not adding value to the category. “A vintage declaration should be the winemaker’s decision rather than the marketing department’s. If the quality of the wines is not better than NV then consumers won’t trade up”, he says.

Promotional mechanisms
According to Chris Seale, Champagne brands director at Pernod Ricard UK, consumers can find vintage Champagne stylistically challenging because of its mature and fuller flavours and sometimes “struggle to appreciate it.” Champagne Pannier’s Kenny agrees: “A good proportion of people prefer NV to vintage because it offers more complexity than they want from a glass of Champagne.” Seale therefore recommends trying to promote vintage Champagne in conjunction with food – particularly in London where the restaurant community is open to listing more Champagnes and making vintage a key offering. Françoise Peretti, director of the CIB, thinks the added age, complexity and diversity of vintage Champagne make it very easy to drink and match with food. She says: “The CIB, retailers and restaurants need to work harder at dispelling clichés such as the myth that people in the UK don’t drink Champagne with food. The day that we do this, vintage Champagne will be successful.”

Seale comments: “Over the last few years our vintage sales have significantly increased year-on-year. This has been driven by one-to-one tastings with sommeliers.” He also suggests including tasting notes on menus in order to “make vintage Champagne as clear and inviting to the consumer as possible.”In the on-trade, features on wine lists, sommelier recommendations and servings by the glass are all traditional ways of promoting Champagne. But the secret of success is to spread the message as widely as possible. Moët & Chandon’s Warner says: “Our strategy has been to talk to wine experts in the first instance (wine writers, sommeliers), followed by discerning consumers (via consumer wine pages, bespoke tasting opportunities) and then other luxury consumers who are interested in wine via lifestyle press and events. This strategy has been a great success and has resulted in many new listings throughout the country in premium on-trade accounts.” Sally Warmington, brand director for Veuve Clicquot, adds “We have seen great success on the back of focused in-outlet programmes – specifically food and wine matching – and aperitif initiatives have been very successful across a variety of restaurants. In specialist retailers we have seen strong results due to premium visibility and display initiatives, which have served to trade consumers up into the vintage category.”

According to Swa, Champagne houses “should make a bigger song and dance when a vintage is declared, much like Port shippers do.” But promoting vintage Champagne is harder to do in the retail channels as the style relies on a hand-sell. Murray explains: “You have to explain why it is different and why it is sold at a price premium.”

As with all wine categories, getting the pricing right is key. Lanson’s Beavis thinks it is difficult to know whether discounting activity reinforces the existing “promotional junky mentality” or gets consumers interested. “We have to keep vintage Champagne aspirational while making it affordable”, says Beavis. Depending on the brand, a vintage Champagne can be the same price as another house’s NV with pricing varying according to the house’s particular portfolio and the size of its range. Murray believes that this lack of consistent pricing leads to confusion among consumers. Verduzier adds: “For négociants, it is tempting to offer wines that are better positioned. In some cases, Vintage Champagnes are 40% to 50% more expensive than NV. The category is not expanding that much and prices are going up. There is still room for a small price increase, particularly when it comes to the rosé style.”

Girard believes that vintage Champagne’s premium price is one of its unique selling points: “Some customers who drink expensive wine don’t want to drink the same Champagne as everyone else.” According to Kenny, it is also a panacea for many people, who don’t know what wine to serve.

Vintage Champagne is currently viewed as a premium wine but there is a danger that this image will be undermined if Champagne houses keep releasing more and more vintages, as they have of late. Murray comments: “If the Champenois start making vintage Champagne every year it will lose that special point of difference.” Verduzier has noticed that Champagne houses are releasing their vintages earlier on as well as declaring vintages in bumper harvest years. He explains: “In 2004, there was a big harvest with large yields so many producers released a vintage that year because they had the volume of grapes to do so. By contrast, in 2003, few houses declared a vintage because of low yields, preferring to keep the grapes for their reserve wines.” This increase in volume has led some houses to market their vintage Champagne more aggressively, devaluing the image and position of the style.

Girard comments: “The demand for vintage Champagne might increase but only if the CIVC is dynamic in promoting vintage wines.” The CIB’s Peretti expects to see a real change in the perception of vintage Champagne in the next two years, largely as a result of the CIVC/CIB educational programme. “Fifteen years ago, English consumers didn’t want to drink rosé Champagne, now consumers all over the world want it. This will be the case for vintage in the future”, she says.  

For many consumers, vintage Champagne does not have the immediate appeal of rosé, so producers need to be more innovative in promoting it. It is up to each house to find the right way to do it. “Vintage sales will grow as long as Champagne houses continue to be dynamic”, says Girard.  

Brand champions

In the words of Louis Roederer’s Swa: “Vintage bottles don’t sell themselves.” It is clear that, with the competition from the NV and rosé styles, vintage Champagne needs help if it is to grow its sales. Although vintage Champagne will always remain a connoisseur’s wine, branded houses should champion this style not only to boost their profit margins but increase the quality perception of Champagne as a category. Small-scale tastings and food and wine pairings can only do so much, now it is up to the big brands to spend some of their considerable marketing budgets on promoting the style.

© db June 2007