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Champagne Joseph Perrier repositions with new bottle
Champagne Joseph Perrier has started releasing its wines in a new exclusive bottle to augment the image of the brand.
Joseph Perrier’s new bottle and packaging
In an interview with the drinks business last month, president of the house Jean-Claude Fourmon said that he had instigated the packaging change to “premiumise” Joseph Perrier.
“We understand that to premiumise Joseph Perrier we needed something more attractive than the regular Champagne bottle,” he said.
As a result, around five years ago, Fourmon asked glassmaker OI to create a new bottle that would be exclusive to Joseph Perrier, having decided that the house wanted not only a bottle that was unique to the house, but also in a design that was “more attractive” as well as a better shape for technical reasons.
The old bottle
“We wanted a swan neck for a smaller air chamber, and generous shoulders to make it easier for the yeast to slide down the bottle,” he said.
The new bottle was officially unveiled in France in September and is currently being released into the UK market.
The change, which took place when Joseph Perrier started bottling its Champagnes using the 2012 base wines, has been expensive to instigate for the house, which produces around 700,000 bottles annually.
Fourmon explained, “It’s a big investment: you need a special mould at the glass factory, and then you have to change everything in your house, even the racks and gyropalettes have to be designed for us, and then there are the labels, all the brochures, gift boxes… everything.”
He also told db that the new bottle shape contains a slightly altered Brut NV Champagne, which now has a marginally lower dosage – 7.5g/l compared to 8.5g/l –while the NV rosé comes in a lighter pink.
Concluding, Fourman said that the changes were part of a “repositioning” of Joseph Perrier, that would include a small increase in retail price too.
“We are a new force, we are a brand looking for more respectability,” he said.
Joseph Perrier follows other houses that have recently launched new exclusive bottle shapes to enhance their premium image, such as Bolllinger and Philipponnat.
Fourman commented, “We are not the first, and we won’t be the last.”
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