Champagne Shortages

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Support the English Sparkling Wine Industry

Much has been made recently of a shortage of Champagne in the UK and elsewhere, and it’s worth discussing as many commentators are seeing this as good news for English Sparkling Wine producers.

Sales of sparkling wines, including Champagne, slowed significantly from late March 2020 onwards as the world went into lockdown, with various producers reporting a 60% fall in volumes. Sales picked up a little as Covid rules were relaxed last summer, but then declined again as Christmas was cancelled. Let’s be honest, we didn’t have much to celebrate in 2020, although we had a glorious summer. In 2021, from Easter onwards, sales have recovered significantly across the globe, with several producers recording a 45% increase year on year, but in general Champagne importers had underestimated the strength of the recovery, therefore, many UK Champagne distributers are now running low on stock, and this has been mentioned by several of our customers in London and elsewhere.

It also worth noting that Champagne and sparkling wine production has been lower in recent years due to difficult harvest conditions; late spring frosts, summer rains, disease and hail.

In 2021 it’s been great to see significant interest from new customers in hotels, bars and restaurants as they want to celebrate re-opening with a delicious glass of Sussex Sparkling. Take a look at our list of stockists.

Add to this, we are just starting to launch our 2018 vintage sparkling wines, beginning with our 2018 Rosé, now available online, from the Cellar Door and slowly appearing in various venues across the UK.

2018 was widely heralded as the vintage of the decade; an amazing summer ripened grapes to perfect levels for our sparkling wines and these lovely Sussex Sparkling wines will be released over the next year. As well as being a great vintage it was also a big vintage, so if you find someone complaining about a shortage of Champagne, point them in our direction and make it a Rathfinny Christmas!