UK Champagne market back to normal

After a period of Covid-related extremes, the UK market for Champagne is back to normal, and that may be no bad thing, believes one key commentator. In a call for calm, while stressing the need to look to long-term trends, the chairman of the UK’s Champagne Agents Association – and MD of Pol Roger Portfolio – James Simpson MW told db last week that the trade should not be unduly surprised, nor concerned, by a slowdown in Champagne sales, which started in the second half of 2023. Joking that he is “old enough to remember when times were normal”, Simpson suggested that this decade’s trading trends have been anomalous, and should not be used to draw too many conclusions on the longer-term nature of Champagne consumption, or indeed, fine wine more generally. Looking back to post 2020 sales patterns, when a sudden decline in Champagne sales followed the first wave of Covid-related lockdowns, followed by a bounce back, and then a boom in 2022, he said that a resulting shortage of ...