Launches add fizz to Bordeaux show

A handful of high profile and novel additions to world of Champagne are among a raft of new product launches at Vinexpo Bordeaux.

These include the Lanson Extra Age Brut Cuvée and Tzarina No. 1, both from Boizel Chanoine Champagne (BCC) and, elsewhere, Nicolas Feuillatte’s Cuvee 225 Vintage Rosé. Both Nicolas Feuillatte and Lanson’s new label have a guide price of £50, while Tzarina’s No. 1 will be priced around £70.

Speaking with the drinks business at the fair, export director at Lanson, Olivier de la Giraudière, said that the new Extra Age label was designed to fill a price gap in Champagne between vintage and prestige cuvee.  

“Part of our strategy is to fill voids in Champagne and there is a gap of between £30 and £40 between vintage Champagne and prestige cuvees,” he said.

Extra Age is made from a blend of wines from the 1999, 2002 and 2003 vintages and is designed to highlight the longevity of Lanson vintage Champagnes. “We wanted to express the benefits of the non-malolactic approach,” Giraudière said.

He also explained that the multi-vintage Champagne was designed to appeal to a broader consumer base than the one that exists for pure vintage Champagne.

“We are projecting the idea of a prestige cuvée because it is a concept that is more marketable than a pure vintage Champagne,” he said.

Extra Age will be launched in the travel retail sector in August through Paris airport Charles de Gaulle.

Also new from Lanson owner’s BCC was Tzarina No. 1, which is the Tzarina brand’s first presige cuvée. It has a 3,000-strong bottle production and will be aimed at the French market with a guide price of E75. The new cuvée has a distinctive chrome label on the Tzarina trademark bevelled bottle.

Finally, Nicolas Feuillatte’s new Cuvée 225 is a rosé, vintage Champagne that employs barrel fermentation. Aimed at the on-trade, it takes its name, 225, from the size of oak barrel used in the winemaking process.

Patrick Schmitt, 24.06.2009