With sales of still wines remaining lacklustre, Crémants are in festive mood. As an affordable alternative to Champagne, the broad-ranging category is consolidating its quality and intends to secure fair pricing for its wines.
Contents:
- Record sales
- Affordability and variety
- Healthy competition
- Leveraging growth
- Moving upmarket
Record sales
Champagne may well reign supreme throughout the festive season, but it is no longer the only sparkling wine to grace dinner tables. “Alongside the connoisseurs who remain committed to the major Champagne brands, consumers looking for quality at lower prices are now turning to sparkling wines”, comments Olivier Leseul, at the Cep et Malt wine store in Chelles near Paris, who was voted France’s best wine merchant in 2024. “Pét-nats, though a niche market, are attracting interest from young consumers. But their style can take those used to traditional method sparkling wines by surprise and their price tags likewise”, adds Leseul. Conversely, “in the eyes of consumers, Crémant is in some ways second-division Champagne which also offers some real gems for 10 to 15 euros a bottle”. Not all sparkling wines are performing well, but Crémant can hold its head high. Sales of its eight appellations combined (Alsace, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Die, Jura, Limoux, Loire and Savoie) totalled 108 million bottles in 2023 (+ 5.7 % year-on-year).
Affordability and variety
“Constant overall growth over the past decade illustrates how the word Crémant has become a driving force”, says a delighted Édouard Cassanet, representing the National Crémant Growers and Producers Federation (FNPEC). The latest monthly indicator for sales in super/hypermarkets confirms the trend, showing growth of 4 to 5% across-the-board since January 2024. Clearly, with pressure from inflation, everyone is mindful of their expenditure but the price factor does not tell the whole story. “Crémant offers a guarantee of quality, underpinned by its number of appellations”. The range of wine regions “piques consumers’ curiosity”. Also, “the pleasant fruity characters and accessibility of the product, along with alcohol content reined in at 11.5%” are all compelling features that resonate with today’s consumers.
Healthy competition
Should Crémant be concerned about competition, particularly from Prosecco which has witnessed a three-fold increase in production over the past 5 years to 616 million bottles in 2023? “Prosecco and Cava complement our range and have in fact broadened the variety of drinking occasions, fuelling consumers’ appetite for sparkling wines”, claims Cassanet. The same is true of English sparkling wines, whose growth has been stoked by investments from Champagne properties in wine regions located in the southern part of the country. “We also have nothing against plans to create PGI sparkling wines, provided their specifications are not opportunistic and do not undermine production rules”, adds Cassanet, who points to the advent of large firms on the Crémant market which have the kind of marketing clout that can benefit the industry.
Leveraging growth
Crémant is now recognised as a speciality that “conveys an image and promotes economic stability”. In the Loire Valley , its share of production has surged from 8.5 % to 17 % in a decade (InterLoire scope data). It is also gaining traction in wine regions that have traditionally focused primarily on still wines, like Bordeaux aux. “Admittedly, there is still room for growth to bolster certain volumes. The challenge above all is to maintain a balance between supply and demand”, believes Cassanet. In export markets, which account for 40% of total Crémant sales – spearheaded by Northern Europe and the United States – new horizons can continue to open up. There are just two clouds on that horizon: firstly, the full range of Crémant is still under-represented in wine merchants and the French hospitality industry.
Moving upmarket
Secondly, the average price tag for Crémant in multiple grocers is around €7 a bottle, which is identical to other sparkling wines that are not made using the traditional method. Therefore, the industry’s potential now lies in “fairer price points that better reflect production costs” stemming from hand-harvesting, secondary bottle fermentation, a minimum of twelve months’ maturation including nine on the lees and lees separation using disgorgement. Distinctive branding created in some regions – Eminent and Grand Eminent in Burgundy and Prestige de Loire for example – and the emergence of vintage labels, single-vineyard offerings, single varietals or wines that undergo lengthy maturation periods diversify the range and are already moving the category upmarket. Not to mention the site-designated bottlings. Since 2011, the Crémant Growers and Producers Organisation in Burgundy has asked for authorisation to append the statement to labels, in the same way that Champagne and Crémant de Loire do. INAO is due to examine this request at the next national committee meeting at the start of 2025. If the ruling is positive, the region could certainly not ask for a better Christmas present.
Florence Jaroniak, ©Volha_AdobeStock
Source: https://cremants.com
To find out more:
https://www.cava.wine/documents/582/DO_CAVA_GLOBAL_REPORT_2023_ENG.pdf
https://www.prosecco.wine/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CS_04.01.2023_BILANCIO-2023.pdf
https://www.prosecco.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Rapporto-Economico-2023.pdf
https://winegb.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/WineGB-Industry-Report-2022-23-FINAL-4.pdf