Champagne Day 2023: Recovery for the world’s top sparkler

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 31 October, 2023

Champagne appears to be holding onto its status as everyone’s favourite premium sparkling wine, new figures reveal, as the category continues an export drive dating back more than 20 years.

France’s foremost sparkler suffered something of a dip in fortunes during the lockdowns of 2020, when populations were isolated and were given few opportunities to celebrate.

In a retrospective from Oensights however, released to mark Global Champagne Day (27 October), new data shows that Champagne has witnessed something of a boom in the export market since then. Exports reached a record-breaking high of €4.2bn in 2022, thus fully recovering from the dip in 2020 (€2.5bn), with the number rising steadily since 2015 (€2.7bn).

Read more: Managing the flames of Champagne demand

It is a trend which also dates back many years. Oensights’ data shows that Champagne has successfully managed to leverage its reputation as the world’s top quality fizz since 2000, when total global exports sat at €1.6bn. Since then, it has managed to beat off tough competition for charmat method sparklers, with an upward trajectory that continues today.

“PDO Champagne continues its strong presence in global sparkling wine markets and maintains its dominant position in French sparkling wine exports,” Elias Gagas, co-founder of Oensights told Harpers.

“In 2022, the total value of PDO Champagne exports from France broke the €4bn barrier, fuelled mainly by a substantial (14%) average price increase for global destinations outside EU-27.”

While volumes remain more stagnant, value is where the category has managed to gain significant traction over the past decade.

Save for the dip in 2020, Champagne has seen a steady upward growth in value since 2015, particularly outside the EU. Between 2015 and 2022, the Champagne category managed to add an enormous €1bn annually to its Rest of World export sales, while EU sales grew from €766.5m to €1.3bn.

The US, UK and Singapore are the top three markets based on total value of French Champagne exports, with the US in pole position. Champagne exports also remain well diversified: the top five destinations in 2022 accounted for 55% of total value.

“This has contributed to alleviating any adverse effects from significant decreases in exports towards China, Hong Kong and Russia in 2022.

“UK was the third highest growth market (behind USA and Japan) for French Champagne in 2022, with an increase of €54 million in terms of total exports value, representing a 12% increase over 2021 figures,” Gagas concluded.

Global Champagne Day is celebrated every year on the fourth Friday in October. This year, it landed over the weekend, on 27 October, with various activations taking place across the world.

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