Less Champagne sold

The credit crunch has taken the fizz out of champagne sales which have shown their first major fall for two decades.

 The latest figures from France's champagne wine board, the CIVC,
show a 23 per cent fall in the number of bottles leaving the main
cellars in October compared with the same month a year earlier.

Exports to Britain fell by eight per cent in the first nine months
of this year, while sales to the US collapsed by 17 per cent. These
falls were recorded before the full impact of the financial storm.

But Champagne had been robustly confident of rising global demand,
so much so that the region recently sought to increase the number of
its appellation vineyards. But after two decades of steady growth of
around two per cent per year, the latest figures suggest the party
might be over.

Last year, no less than 338 million
bottles were sold – an all time record which 2008 was never likely
to surpass. But wine experts believe that champagne producers are
finally paying for their greed, having consistently raised prices
above inflation.