‘Grey pound’ key to resilience of UK Champagne market
Shipments of Champagne to the UK dropped by almost 3m bottles in 2024, but the fall would be worse without the older generation – who can afford to keep drinking the French fizz.
That is one conclusion that could be drawn from talking to James Simpson MW, head of the UK Champagne Shippers Association, as well as MD of Pol Roger Portfolio.
You can listen to the full interview here, which covers the major trends in Champagne in the UK, but, among the points he made, notable were his views on who is drinking the traditional method sparkling wine in the UK.
Commenting on the successful sales performance for Champagne via wine merchants such as Berry Bros & Rudd along with The Wine Society – where the average age of customer is approaching 60 – he stressed that the source of demand for Champagne wasn’t among the younger generation.
In fact, he told db that the market for Champagne “was rather more senior drinkers – which I’m one of now – so let’s be realistic, don’t be frightened of what I call the ‘grey pound’, and I think we’re lucky, because they got used to drinking Champagne during the pandemic.”
As for the younger generation, he recorded, “I don’t think we expect someone straight out of school or university to be able to afford a decent bottle of Champagne – so let’s be realistic, we’re not necessarily trying to tap the 21 year-old.”
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However, Simpson, when interviewed last month, did express some element of concern about the affordability of Champagne for those aged in-between.
Explaining the decline in sales of Champagne in the past couple of years (see table below), he said, “I think the problem is those in the mid 30s to the mid 40s, and early 50s, who are struggling with mortgages, school fees and all that.”
As for the UK market for Champagne at the start of this year, during a discussion with Justin Liddle, who is MD at Mentzendorff – the UK importer for Bollinger – it was suggested that early 2025 was looking stronger than the same time in 2024.
Commenting on the level of trade during January, he said of retailers and restaurants, “They are re-ordering now, which is a relief for us, because coming into 2024, following a relatively quiet Christmas, there was a bit of stock around in the market.”
Continuing he said, “But this January, it has been brisk – the momentum from December has carried through to January – unlike last year, when it took a bit of time for the market to wake up.”
Indeed, bearing in the mind the stock that was in the market at the start of 2024, the sales of Champagne in 2024 may be higher than shipments – which were 22.3m bottles for the 12-month period, down 12.7% on the year before. In value, the total was €518.7m, down 5.7%.
Shipments of Champagne to the UK: 1996-2024
| Year | Shipments (in volume, bottles) | Shipments (in value, Euros) | |
| 1996 | 20,240,883 | 195,149,800 | |
| 1997 | 22,420,435 | 228,985,804 | |
| 1998 | 24,389,908 | 265,975,489 | |
| 1999 | 32,419,931 | 384,420,191 | |
| 2000 | 20,578,553 | 268,126,968 | |
| 2001 | 25,082,243 | 307,806,000 | |
| 2002 | 31,690,734 | 369,758,403 | |
| 2003 | 34,479,068 | 408,778,057 | |
| 2004 | 34,936,891 | 434,303,085 | |
| 2005 | 36,379,105 | 471,256,122 | |
| 2006 | 36,801,216 | 495,509,404 | |
| 2007 | 39,052,278 | 542,272,542 | |
| 2008 | 35,997,252 | 519,004,060 | |
| 2009 | 30,517,461 | 406,208,065 | |
| 2010 | 35,494,489 | 455,017,615 | |
| 2011 | 34,533,887 | 468,273,213 | |
| 2012 | 32,450,435 | 465,066,361 | |
| 2013 | 30,786,727 | 447,241,655 | |
| 2014 | 32,675,232 | 477,296,552 | |
| 2015 | 34,155,288 | 512,219,921 | |
| 2016 | 31,189,040 | 440,341,078 | |
| 2017 | 27,762,045 | 415,196,133 | |
| 2018 | 26,769,192 | 406,276,451 | |
| 2019 | 27,158,031 | 433,248,156 | |
| 2020 | 21,270,195 | 338,351,474 | |
| 2021 | 29,654,499 | 501,364,384 | |
| 2022 | 27,656,088 | 544,301,624 | |
| 2023 | 25,534,935 | 550,236,144 | |
| 2024 | 23,308,00 | 518,726,000 |
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