Lovely bubbly

Left with a glut of post-millennium champagne, producers are taking their product to a new audience

Lest we forget, the season to be jolly is fast approaching and, along with over spending on the high street and over indulging on the turkey and mince pies with relatives you don't always like or know, 'tis the season to add some sparkle to proceedings. And what's more, champagne is good for you. It's official.

Recent medical research revealed that bubbly has anti-depressant qualities, capable of reviving flagging energy levels and banishing the blues. It also contains a natural antacid that aids indigestion. As if you needed another excuse to get fizzy with it, champagne also gets you into the Christmas mood quicker than most.

Each of the estimated 22 billion bubbles contained in a bottle of champagne facilitates rapid absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream - which with the less than generous licensing regulations this year - can only be a good thing!

In fact, even if you don't celebrate Christmas, you may just be in luck. Nicolas Feuillatte has just released its first Kosher Mevushal Cuvée champagne, aimed at the Jewish community and produced under the control of rabbinical supervisors under strict Judaic laws.

Champagne was once considered the exclusive domain of flash Harrys and hooray Henriettas, and was only quaffed during times of festivity and merriment. More recently, however, a rising number of affluent 25 to 40-year-old consumers are adding fizz to their regular drinks repertoire.

The arrival of Moët & Chandon in this year's Publican Newspaper Brands top 200 listings confirmed that champagne is one of the most successful wines sold in pubs and has benefited hugely, alongside the category as a whole, as consumers switch allegiance from grain to grape.

With a demand exceeding 32 million bottles last year, the UK champagne market is the world's number one export destination - ahead of Germany and the US.

In addition to prophesies from millennium soothsayers stating that on the stroke of midnight planes would plummet from the sky, computers would self-combust and anarchists would thrust the world into chaos, some experts (most likely canny champagne brand marketing managers) managed to hoodwink many into thinking there wouldn't be enough champagne to go around - a petrifying prediction that alongside assurances that the River of Fire and Millennium Dome would be attractions worth seeing, proved to be unfounded.

The estimated increase of 30 million bottles was a lot lower than industry observers had predicted.

The final shipment figure for 1999 was 327 million bottles of champagne, a rise of just under 35 million bottles on the year before. However, with overstock, the correct extra consumption for 1999 was closer to 25 million bottles. Consequently, champagne producers are now feeling the strain a year after the millennium spending spree with sales running out of fizz and dropping by as much as 15 per cent.

In order to avoid the side effects of a post-New Year hangover, the major champagne producers have managed to maintain the millennium momentum through a variety of initiatives and promotions aimed at introducing the product to a new audience.

The principal players have reacted in different ways. Many have gone for price cutting ventures, reducing the difference in price between grande marque and own label champagnes. Others, such as Mumm and Piper-Heidsieck, have stepped-up advertising and sponsorship promotions.

At the premium end of the scale, Champagne Perrier-Jouet teamed up with the Chelsea Flower Show this summer and more recently with Selfridges to create a major new award for the British Design industry. Seagram-stable mate Mumm has tried to capitalise on its unique position as official Champagne for Greenwich Meridian 2000 by signing a deal with Formula 1 motor racing. Schumacher, Hakkinen and Coulthard wouldn't be seen drenched in anything else.

The number three brand, Piper-Heidsieck has also tried to improve its 4.2 per cent market share by running a high profile £500,000 five-month advertising campaign in style magazines and national newspapers.

By far the biggest marketing news to hit the champagne world in recent times, however, has been the arrival of the baby brands.

In an attempt to attract young, beautiful movers and shakers with a great deal of disposable income, a number of bubble barons have introduced smaller, sleeker champagnes especially designed for busy venues. The latest trend, aimed at moving the category towards a stylish and younger target audience, was spearheaded by the launch of POP in the summer of 1999, from Percy Fox's House of Pommery stable.

Packaged in a 20cl bottle, approximately a third the size of a normal bottle of champagne, POP claims to be the first champagne specifically developed to be drunk through a straw.

Jan Erik Franck, ambassador for Pommery in the UK, said: "POP is a completely new concept. After a great deal of research, we designed a champagne especially for the smaller bottle. To drink champagne through a straw we had to reduce the pressure from six to four kilograms so that it doesn't become unpleasant or messy, and come up with a completely new champagne.

"We intentionally didn't just take the Pommery brand and put it a smaller bottle. It's a well known fact that a champagne best served from a magnum does not translate to a 20cl bottle."

However, the prices of POP and Piper-Heidsieck's miniature offering "Baby Piper," complete with branded straw, foil and wire muzzle to ensure the pop and whoosh appeal, are aimed squarely at the smart set. Offering 50 per cent more than a standard glass of bubbly, the champagne minors are set to strike the consumer's wallets to the tune of between £7 to £10 per bottle.

If charging like the light brigade doesn't appeal, then why not opt for the more accessible, modestly priced and increasingly popular selection of sparkling wines.

The fastest growing sector within the burgeoning sparkling wine category is the Spanish bubbly, cava. Made using the same method as champagne, cava makes up 40 per cent of the non-champagne sparkling wine market and according to Mike Hothersall, area director of Cordoniu UK, represents a marvellous opportunity for publicans.

"More and more people are happy to switch from champagne to cava. It's better value than champagne and thanks to the warm climate in Spain, the taste is a lot less acidic - which allows it to be served as an aperitif as well as with food," said Hothersall.

"Over the Christmas period, why not add a house sparkling wine to your house red and white, but bring the profit margin down a little bit on the fizz in order to introduce your customers to cava?"

"People often have a glass of sparkling wine before they settle down to a meal and a bottle of red or white. It can be an important extra bit of revenue," he added.

Cordoniu has introduced a number of initiatives aimed at driving cava sales by the glass. As well as introducing a "baby" screw-capped 20cl bottle of Cordoniu 1551 at the competitive target price of £3.50, Distributors, Matthew Clark supplies a business builder's kit that includes six cava flutes, a bottle stopper that preserves the bubbles in your bottle for up to two days, and a state-of-the-art branded blue wine cooler.

Rather than opting for cheaper champagne, which can often deceive the taste buds thanks to its high price, glitzy image and bubbles, why not choose from the plethora of sparkling wines brands from Europe and the New World.

BRL Hardy Limited recently expanded its Banrock Station range of wines with the introduction of a sparkling Shiraz. "Red wine is growing in popularity in the UK and we now drink as much red wine as white," said brand manager Kate Blazey. "The launch of Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz responds to the rising demand for red wine but with the twist of a sparkle which makes it particularly drinkable when you're out. W