“Champagne prices have climbed but intrinsic profitability has not significantly increased”

9-year-old Eric Potié has just been elected chairman of the co-operative group Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne (TEVC) which has 6,000 member growers farming 2,500 hectares with four Champagne brands (Nicolas Feuillatte, Castelnau, Abelé 1757 and Henriot).

Eric Potié: It’s not just Champagne – challenges are being felt across the entire wine industry in France. That said, Champagne has seen a slowdown in sales but compared with many other French wine regions, it continues to perform relatively well. Geopolitical tensions in major consumer regions are creating headwinds, but I continue to be optimistic about the Champagne appellation. We have always shown resilience and the ability to scale the appellation back in order to overcome the most challenging times. I am confident in our ability to attract consumers to our products, our history and our wine tourism solutions. These are challenging times but I am not too concerned about the long term.

There’s been a lot of talk about loss of appeal, particularly among younger generations but our aim was to move the appellation upmarket. Obviously, when you raise price points, it’s harder to connect with young people. They do drink sparkling wines, however, either on their own or with other drinks. Our challenge is to help them pivot from cheaper sparkling wines to higher end ones as their purchasing power improves. Markets are admittedly more volatile but that is primarily due to exchange rates in Japan and possible tariffs in the United States.

It’s important to remember that the increase in the price of Champagne was a strategic industry decision. The price of grapes has also risen due to fairer value distribution. Champagne prices have clearly climbed but intrinsic profitability has not significantly increased. Much of the additional revenue has been invested in marketing and sales to support our brands.