Bollinger launches £350 champagne to meet soaring demand
There’s no sign of the cost of living crisis at Spencer House, an 18th-century aristocratic palace, overlooking Green Park in Mayfair, London, which has this week been temporarily renamed Bollinger House to celebrate the launch next week of a £350-a-bottle champagne.
The launch, which was celebrated with a seemingly endless supply of the new Bollinger RD 2008 and a black tie banquet for more than 100 people, is the latest in a series of expensive vintage champagnes capitalising on booming demand as wealthy people continue to party hard to make up for lost extravagances during the pandemic.
Champagne shipments hit a record €6bn (£5.3bn) last year, according to the Comité Champagne, the trade association of producers in northern France, which expects sales to be even stronger in 2023.
Charles Goemaere, Comité Champagne’s general manager, said producers had been slightly caught off guard by the strength of demand following the return to normality after the coronavirus crisis.
“It was a surprise after the pandemic to see such a rebound in most of the markets,” Goemaere said. “We don’t have a precise view of psychological reasons, but consumer studies show champagne is the drink of celebration, and people very much want to celebrate even small things after such a horrible period.”
Goemaere said rich people – whose disposable income has been largely unaffected by soaring inflation – were particularly seeking out specific vintages and more valuable bottles. “The rebound was particularly unexpected on some bottles, and some producers may have faced difficulties.”
LVMH, the luxury goods company behind Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Krug and Dom Pérignon said in November that was “running out of stock on our best champagnes” as wealthy
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