11 minute read
SPARKLING WINE SPECIAL
CUVÉE
Has sparkle lost its fizz?
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CHAMPAGNE IN AUSTRALIA IS STRUGGLING, UNDER THREAT, LOSING GROUND, SALES UP OR DOWN, VOLUMES UP OR DOWN. LOCAL SPARKLERS ARE JUST AS GOOD AND A FRACTION OF THE PRICE (HAVE YOU LOOKED AT THE PRICE OF THE TOP AUSSIE FIZZ LATELY?). THE FIZZ HAS LOST ITS SPARKLE. SO THE DOOMSAYERS WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE.
Words Ken Gargett
Yet, just last week in Brisbane, scores of champagne lovers, all black tie and evening gowns, were more than happy to part with amounts equivalent to the GDP of a small nation to attend a function at the Queensland Art Gallery. Jeroboams of 1990 and 1995 Pommery and the amazing 1995 Louise were served. Afterwards, fizzophiles were begging to buy anything that was left. It seems every state capital has champagne events, education, classes, tastings, to which wine lovers flock.
Many in the industry might doubt the power of Champagne. Consumers most obviously do not. If Champagne is on the wane, it seems they forgot to tell the legions of fans who love the stuff.
That does not mean that this region is not facing some issues, but for the most part, they are responding well.
So what is the situation facing Champagne, both here and internationally?
Australia is the 7th largest market in the world for Champagne by volume, with the largest consumption per head outside Europe. France is the clear leader – no surprise there – with 147 million bottles, followed by the UK (26.8), USA (23.7), Japan (13.6), Germany (12.1), Belgium (9.1), ourselves (8.4), Italy (7.4), Switzerland (5.8), with Spain (4.2) making up the top ten.
The trend here is swinging, ever-soslightly, away from the high percentage of non-vintage Champagnes which dominated the Australian market for so long, to vintage and prestige cuvées. Go back forty years, and we had one of the highest, if not the leading percentage of vintage Champagne consumption per head, in the world. Rosé imports have also reached the highest levels in a decade.
Figures, above, for 2018 show that 8.4 million bottles were imported, our second-highest ever total. Annual figures fluctuate considerably but looked at over a period, this century if you like, there is sustained growth. At times, it seems that the only thing that might impact adversely on this glorious period are the possible actions of the Houses and the region itself. Stranger things…
Indeed, it is not all sparkle.
It will come as no surprise if climate change is identified as a major issue for the region (an issue too large to cover here, however, those who have not yet cottoned on to the fact that climate change is real and a massive concern can skip the next few paragraphs and join us again below).
The Champagne Bureau has estimated that climate change cost the 2019 Champagne harvest around ten per cent, thanks to heatwaves in June and July. 42.9ºC is not what one expects from a region which basically “invented” non-vintages to combat the fact that it was regularly too cool for
We have seen domestic sparkling production decreasing by around 2% per year, over the past five years. Consumption of imports, on the other hand, has increased by 5% annually over this time, Champagne at a slightly higher rate than this.
a single vintage harvest. The heatwaves followed spring frosts – another issue which has become much more of a problem in recent years – devastating a considerable proportion of buds.
Over the last thirty years, the average temperature has risen 1.1º and, the harvest typically begins 18 days earlier than it did. That said, the changes, in years more moderate, have meant more vintages declared, but the concern is what it will lead to in the near future.
The region is working hard to do what it can and has been developing sustainable practice policies over the last decade. The aim is zero use of herbicides by 2025. By 2030, all production will need to be environmentally certified.
Growers are one of the more exciting categories in the Champagne world, with some truly scintillating wines made (though plenty of dross, as well). Speak to some of our sommeliers, and you’d swear that nothing but grower Champagnes make these shores and nothing else is worth drinking. In truth, it is the most discussed, written about but least drunk category of the market. We lag behind the world when it comes to growers Champagnes. Only the UK imports a smaller volume from growers and none of the major markets import fewer of them (for the record, only Spain imports fewer co-operatives).
Part of the reason for this is that many growers do make average Champagne and we have seen enormous improvements from the big houses in recent years – a decade or two ago, many seemed far more interested in marketing fluff than true quality. Many consumers are simply more comfortable in the tried and tested Champagnes, which they know and love.
Market share of growers dropped to an almost negligible 1.43% in 2018 – compared with over 18% globally, in the other large markets. Tyson Stelzer, in his excellent and informative ‘State of Play of Champagne in Australia 2018’ (referred to below), has referred to this as a ‘crisis’. It might well be if you are a grower looking to sell your products here – although some are highly desired and sell out quickly (Selosse, Ulysse Collin, Agrapart and others), but I would suggest that it merely reflects local preferences. The markets are never wrong – when local demand increases, the market will reflect that. Growers and some of the co-operatives have a hard row to hoe to turn this to their advantage, but the quality producers will emerge. In time, it is likely that the percentage of grower Champagnes sold here will settle at a level which is more akin to the world averages.
There are issues elsewhere as well, of course. France and the UK, the two largest markets in the world, have contracted again. Perhaps most staggeringly and notwithstanding the shrinking UK market, exports now exceed French consumption.
Less than two decades ago, exports represented only a third of production.
Rosé continues to soar around the globe, far less so in Australia.
The CIVC, which generally do an excellent job of protecting and promoting Champagne, is not perfect. At the time of writing, it seems they have made the incredibly shortsighted and self-destructive decision to either abandon the Vin de Champagne Awards or revamp them in ways which seem certain to devalue one of the most important competitions open to wine lovers in Australia.
The Vin de Champagne Award has been open to both trade and consumer. Many laureates have gone on to promote Champagne across the nation in a manner that all the PR money in the world could not buy. A number of the amateurs have subsequently enjoyed a lifelong involvement in the industry, working to the good of the region. They are the most powerful advocates for the wines of Champagne that the district will ever have.
Why any region would want to lose this is beyond me. It is to be hoped that the CIVC see the error of their ways.
For those who look past the issues, we see a glorious age of Champagne. There are brilliant wines from all manner of styles – NV, vintage, prestige (especially), rosé, Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, growers (some of them), co-ops (again some), non-dosage (although…). Some stellar examples are 2007 Taittinger Comtes, Roederer Cristal 2002 and 2008 as well as the ‘standard’ LR 2012, Dom Perignon 2008 (perhaps the finest Dom ever released), the new Pommery Blanc de Blancs, the latest Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque’s, the new array of 2012 Champagnes for the Penfold’s Thienot JV, some from a little further left-field such as Jacquart Blanc de Blancs 2012 and a delicious Jeeper Grand Rosé. But this list could be expanded many times over. Take advantage.
Australians really do have the best of both worlds. Our long and always evolving relationship with Champagne continues, while we make some of the finest sparkling wines on the planet ourselves. A subject for late-night debate it might be, over a glass of your favourite fizz, but personally, I believe Tasmania has established itself as the region on the planet capable of producing the greatest sparkling wine outside Champagne.
It is very early days for Tasmania, with wineries and makers still ascertaining the best vineyards. Vines are young. Production is but a drop in the bucket compared with a region like Champagne and distribution is very limited – many of the island’s top wines, fizz or otherwise, simply do not get to the mainland, let alone offshore. Prices can be an issue, understandably, as small production means that many producers do not enjoy the advantages of economies of scale in the way the big Champagne Houses have benefited.
Other regions, both domestically and internationally, will emerge and the pecking order may change in time, but lovers of fine sparkling wine should not ignore the glories on our southern doorstep. Arras, made by the brilliant Ed Carr, has long ruled the show circuit and the hearts and minds of fizzophiles. The Arras Brut Elite might not be their most expensive or rarest, but it is a very fine choice to see what Arras is doing and what Tasmania can offer.
There are numerous others, both small and not quite so small – Clover Hill, Jansz (check their Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2014), Josef Chromy, Kreglinger, Bream Creek, Delamere and others.
A personal favourite is the wonderfully complex ‘R3 Radenti’ from Freycinet. What makes this wine such a stunning achievement is the difficulty small producers face in making sparkling, a wine from which they may see no return for up to a decade. The name, ‘R3’ reflects the three vintages used in the blend, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The wine is a 70/30 Chardonnay/ Pinot Noir blend.
In Australia, there is already plenty to look at from the mainland. The bad old days of third rate grapes like Trebbiano and Ondenc in huge tanks, made into fizz by pumping in gas, are long gone, and the traditional methods in play in Champagne
are regularly followed here. Focus on the best-situated vineyards and work in those vineyards, together with greater use of reserve wines and longer time on lees has all helped quality to soar.
Domaine Chandon, based in the Yarra, has long been critical in the extraordinary advances made by Australian sparkling makers – look for their Late Disgorged Rosé 2009. Macedon is an ideal region, given the temperatures and few do it better than Hanging Rock. Their ‘Cuvée Ten’, a late disgorged style from the region, can be confronting but the extra levels of complexity that the wine exhibits has always endeared it to many, including myself. Their ‘Cuvée XVII’ is pretty exciting, as well.
We do not see a lot of Blanc de Noir here, but one of the finest is from the Adelaide Hills, Henschke’s ‘Johanne Ida Selma NV’. They have gone with a crown seal, rather than the more traditional cork.
And yet, despite the joys available here, the split between local and offshore fizz is trending to the latter. We have seen domestic sparkling production decreasing by around 2% per year, over the last five years. Consumption of imports, on the other hand, has increased by 5% annually over this time; Champagne at a slightly higher rate than this.
Overall, imported sparkling wine totals around 22 million bottles per year (in comparison to the 40 million bottles of local fizz). As we have seen, Champagne contributes just over 8 million of these. Italy is just under 8 million, other French around two million, New Zealand slightly less and Germany and Spain just under a million each.
We are, however, regular drinkers of sparkling wine with nearly a third of the population claiming to drink fizz at least once a month. If we focus solely on those Australians, who do drink sparkling wines, which is almost half of us, almost a quarter of these drink it weekly. Champagne also does well – almost one-fifth of sparkling drinkers consuming it weekly, though less than half of those sparkling drinkers actually consume it monthly. Anyone interested in these figures should look to Tyson Stelzer’s annual State of Play of the Champagne Market, a fascinating read. Anyone halfserious about Champagne will also be looking at Tyson’s annual ‘Champagne Guide’, the latest being bigger and better than ever.
The point is also made that under 34s make up just 35% of fizz drinkers, though they are well represented in the Champagne, Prosecco and even New Zealand sparkling sectors. But the percentage of young drinkers is increasing and they are very much focused on premium styles, notably Champagne, which makes the CIVC’s equivocation in respect of the Vin de Champagne Awards, which have been in existence for nearly half a century, more puzzling.
Finally, is sparkling wine a male or female preference? Overall, the women rule, comprising 55% of the category. Champagne, however, is shared equally.
Champagne and sparkling wine may well, on many levels, be enjoying levels of quality and interest unprecedented, but there are many issues facing them. Some may be outside their control. Others may even be of their own making. They need to be addressed, attended to or mitigated to the extent they can, but there is every reason to believe that there are even greater heights which can be achieved.
