Jiles's Blog

JANUARY 2026

A selection of less well-known news stories from Champagne

Since we are still only a couple of weeks into 2026, I hope it’s not too late to wish you and yours a very Happy New Year.

Since we share a common interest in champagne, I thought you might be intrigued by this light-hearted selection of news from Champagne that you probably won’t find anywhere else.

I hope you enjoy the read and do feel free to let me know if you have any questions or comments

“Welcome to the vineyards of Verzy. The most beautiful in all of Champagne.”

There are some 320 villages in Champagne, and I imagine that the inhabitants of each one feel that their village is the best. Whatever the truth of the matter, Verzy must have a claim to be at the top of the list.

Of course, I’m biased because I lived there for 20 years or so, but I am not alone in my opinion.

The quotation above is from the opening lines of the film Widow Clicquot, spoken by Monsieur Clicquot to his young bride — before she tragically became a widow and went on to make history.

If you haven’t seen the film, you’re not alone. It never enjoyed wide distribution, though it can be found on several online platforms. You can hear those famous opening lines in the trailer here:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3234122/

I wouldn’t say it’s a great movie but it’s an interesting tale for anyone interested in champagne.

Curiously, the film was not actually shot in Verzy, nor even in Champagne for the most part. A missed opportunity, I think.

Veuve Clicquot still owns vineyards in Verzy and there’s one particular plot that is reserved for the production of La Grande Dame, Veuve Clicquot’s top-of-the-range cuvée. This is a picture of me standing in that same plot on an Autumn day when the vines looked especially beautiful.

The plot has another claim to fame because it is home to individual vine plants dedicated to the winners of the Bold Women Award.

Each year, a little orange plaque bearing the name of the winning lady is fixed to a specific vine and now that the award has been going for 40 years, you can see row upon row of them.

Two More Great Ladies Remembered

Last month marked the passing, at the age of 91, of Brigitte Bardot — an icon of French beauty and style, and a long-time friend of several champagne houses. She had a particular affiliation to Champagne Besserat de Bellefond and was a muse to fashion designers, and indeed to an entire era.

Another legendary woman of that time was Marilyn Monroe, and 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of her birth. Though not French, she famously adored champagne — allegedly filling her bath with Dom Pérignon. Like Bridgitte Bardot, Marilyn was associated with many champagne houses and this year Piper Heidsieck  will be releasing a special cuvée in her honour later this year.

Two very different women, united by glamour, legend… and champagne.

A Date for Your December Diary ?

Every mid-December, the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay transforms for Les Habits de Lumière — “Dressed in Lights”.

It’s a feast for the senses: live music everywhere, fantastical illuminated floats, spectacular sound-and-light shows, and, naturally, all the along the 500 yard length of the avenue, champagne flowing freely as the great houses open their doors for tastings and pop-up bars : Moët & Chandon, Pol Roger, Perrier-Jouët, De Venoge, Boizel, Esterlin and A. Bergère, to name just a few.

It’s unforgettable. I doubt you will ever have seen so much champagne being poured in one place on one occasion — but two pieces of advice:

• Book accommodation early (very early) and be sure to check the exact dates, they vary slightly each year.
• Be ready for crowds.

The attendance figures for 2025 are not yet available but over the two days of the event in 2024, around 67,000 people attended. Don’t expect fewer in 2026.

Champagne Games

Looking for a gift idea for a champagne lover — or perhaps a treat for yourself and your family?

Two new champagne-themed board games have just been released. One is a Champagne edition of Monopoly. The other, intriguingly titled AOC (Age of Champagne), puts you in charge of your own champagne house: securing grape supplies, managing blends, and balancing production with sales and marketing.

If you’ve ever wondered what it really takes to run a champagne business, this game offers a surprisingly insightful (and entertaining) glimpse behind the scenes.

Let me know if you’d like more details.

That’s all for this bulletin. I’ll write again from time to time when there’s more curious and slightly left-field news to bring you.

Meanwhile, all the best for 2026. ????

JH January 2026

Crémant or Champagne

There’s no denying that the world of wine is undergoing a period of change – sales of low or non-alcoholic drinks are growing fast whilst sales of wine are at best stagnant and at worst in marked decline. Some say that this upheaval is only cyclical and simply a reflection of widespread and (one hopes, temporary) economic woes, yet others see a structural shift with little chance of things returning to the patterns of growth experienced over the past few decades.

Whatever the truth of the matter, one category of wine that is bucking the trend is sparkling wine - sales are booming.

The big winner is the world of sparkling wine is Prosecco, but sales of Cava are buoyant too and this is true for Crémant as well which brings us to the main topic of this article.

What is Crémant?

Crémant is the term applied to sparkling wines made in France outside the Champagne region which is a category apart. It’s interesting to note that the term Crémant was used in Champagne in the past when it referred to wines produced in Champagne that were deliberately made to have a reduced level of effervescence. In the 1970s the term was relinquished by the champenois and since then its use is reserved for the 9 other regions in France that produce sparkling wine using a method broadly similar to that used in Champagne.

Against this background it’s inevitable that Crémant is often compared to champagne.

Although it is generally accepted that champagne is of higher quality than Crémant, champagne is considerably more expensive, something that is largely due to the extremely high price of land in Champagne, and it is undoubtedly the lower price of Crémant that is main factor driving sales. A good quality bottle of Cremant can be found for around £12 in the UK retail market whilst the least expensive bottle of champagne will be around £30 (although lower promotional prices can be found in the largest retail chains). The relative positions will be applicable in other markets too.

Many consumers feel that there’s not much difference between champagne and Crémant (or Cava, or Prosecco for that matter). “After all, they’ve all got bubbles, haven’t they?” these consumers might say. These same customers might well wonder why champagne is so much more expensive.

On the other hand, consumers with a little more knowledge and curiosity might reply “That’s nonsense. It’s like saying that a Sauvignon Blanc from Chile is the same as a Puligny Montrachet from Bourgogne because they’re both white wines.” For these people the difference is price is obvious and fully justified.

A double-edged sword

The comparison with champagne poses something of a dilemma for makers of Crémant:

Do they settle for the idea that Crémant will always be seen as a cheaper version of champagne: a somewhat reductive position that would mean that they must rely on volume growth to grow profits, or do they strive to improve the quality of their wines and establish an image that is closer to that of champagne: a choice that may well put the brakes on the rapid growth in sales that we are currently seeing?

The debate is far from settled as we can see from the following comments which appeared in a recent article in The Drinks Business.

Some Crémant producers outrightly reject the label of simply being an affordable champagne.

“Crémant is not champagne” While there are indeed similarities between the two, the aim “is not to fight against Champagne”.

“We have our own grapes, exclusive terroir and unique climate, so we are different”

 “Being described as ‘affordable’ is a negative perception because it means you are cheaper. It is not a question of price, but a question of taste.”

 “We are in two completely different universes with the same method, but most of all we are complementary,” he says. “It depends on your taste and the moment.”

On the other hand, some producers take a different view

“The comparisons (between Crémant and champagne) were always numerous, but the quality has increased by a lot. Nowadays these comparisons are rather beneficial.”

Another maintains that “if you taste blind, you don’t feel the difference”, with good-quality Crémant aligning with medium-quality Champagne.

“The biggest challenge will be to show and prove that Crémant wines are of very good quality, that numerous Crémants are better than Champagnes and to make it acknowledged by the consumer’”

The jury is out

There are perils associated with both the strategies outlined above for Crémant: the one accepts a lower status than champagne, the other risks pushing prices too close to that of champagne and discouraging the very consumers who are driving the current growth of sales.

So, will Crémant ever rival or even surpass the success of champagne in terms of either sales volume or imagery?

That seems unlikely to me, although I’m biased given that I’ve spent large parts of my career in the world of champagne.

What do you think?

 p.s.

Many readers may be wondering why I write Crémant with a capital C and champagne with a small c

This is something of an anomaly, I admit, and it is definitely NOT because I regard champagne as being of lower status. It’s a throwback to the 20+ years I spent living in France when I learned that La Champagne refers to the region called Champagne and that Le champagne refers to the wine made in that region.

My way of distinguishing between the two is to use a capital C for the region and a small c for the wine.

It makes sense to me, but I can see that it raises some eyebrows.

What retail price is right for your Private Champagne Brand?

It’s a question that’s really important for anyone considering creating their own brand of champagne and I wish that there was a simple formula that allowed you to come up with the right answer every time, but there isn’t, so let’s consider some retail price in the U.K. and see what pointers they might give us.

These prices are not directly comparable to prices in other markets but the positioning relatively to one another is relevant, as are the price categories that emerge.

In my view, there are, broadly speaking, 4 price bands

image. The Drinks Business

Below £25

These prices can only be found in large supermarket chains who are selling their own brand.

The supermarkets can achieve these prices because they place very large orders and can command the lowest possible cost prices; they operate on very thin profit margins; they spend little or nothing on marketing because they have a ready-made distribution network and in addition to all those advantages, they often run price promotions on their own brand champagne as a loss leader to attract customers to their stores.

The quality of these champagnes is often high, and the wines appeal not just to consumers who know very little about champagne and buy on price alone, but also to more knowledgeable drinkers who are looking for a great deal.

1) £35-£50

These are what I would call ‘Accessible brands’ or ‘Challenger brands’

You find many of the best-selling and best-known brands in this category together with some brands that have an established history but are less well recognised by the majority of champagne drinkers.

The marketing investment behind these brands is often considerable with a consequent impact on profit margins, however, the bulk of sales are made in this  category and thus profits can also be significant.

These brands appeal to champagne drinkers who base their buying decision primarily on brand name recognition rather than any deeper knowledge of champagne and also to those with a little more experience of champagne who are open to trying new brands, but within reasonable budgetary constraints.

These are brands that can be served with confidence at any celebration without the risk of being seen as ‘cheap’ by serving a supermarket brand.

2) £60 - £90

In this category we find special cuvées and vintage champagnes for more discerning drinkers.

Some of these consumers have a genuinely deep appreciation of champagne and take pleasure in the finer details of the brand story and in the undoubtedly high quality of the champagne. Others choose the brand because it is less well known and will invite comment, thus presenting an opportunity to reveal their wine knowledge.

Usually, the sales volumes are significantly lower than less expensive brands and profit margins higher.

3) £100 > as high as you like

 Ultra-premium brands whose prices have no real reference point and cannot be rationalised logically which is the classic characteristic of a luxury brand.

Celebrity brands are often found in this category.

Profit margins are extremely high because of the diminishing returns in terms of the quality/price relationship: twice the price does not mean twice the quality or twice the cost of production.

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This attempt to categorise different types of champagne is a generalisation and the market conditions as well as the rate of tax and the structural costs of doing business vary from country to country, so the exact prices do not exactly translate to all markets.

Having said this, a rule of thumb that has traditionally been used as a guideline in the USA is that the retail price is between 3 and 4 times the cost price in France. This takes into account the margin requirements of importers, distributors and retailers at each stage of the chain, but the real factors determining where you set your retail price are much more complex and include

• the price of competing brands already in the market
• the expectations of the consumers you are targeting
• the distinctive features of your own brand and of course
• the cost price and the projected profit margins of your brand

For a more in-depth exploration of this topic and anything else relating to creating your own private champagne brand, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

When to start picking

As if life wasn’t difficult enough for grape growers and wine makers wherever in the world they may be, when it comes to the harvest in Champagne, there seems to be an extra level of complication, or to be more accurate, several extra layers. Too many in fact to explain in just one short article, so let’s deal with them one topic at a time starting with the decision about when to start picking.

You might assume that each vineyard owner would simply check the ripeness of his or her crop as the fruit matured on the vines and decide on the right moment to start picking. To a large extent this is still the case, but things are a little more complex than that.

There are some 320 villages in Champagne and these are spread out over an area that, broadly speaking, is 120 km square. You can imagine that the variations in location mean that the grapes in one area don’t always ripen at exactly the same rate as the grapes in another.

In addition, there are three main varieties of grape that can be used to make champagne and each one has different characteristics that affect the ripening process, so they don’t all reach optimum ripeness at the same moment.

It’s very difficult therefore to impose any form of uniformity on the roll-out of the harvest. However, establishing guidelines and structure to the champagne industry is exactly why the governing body called the Comité Champagne was set up many decades ago.

There are many good reasons for this, not least of which is the maintenance of quality standards and one of the tools used to do this is to fix the start date of the harvest.

With this in mind, each year the Comité Champagne publishes a list of the dates on which picking can start for each of the three main grape varieties in each of the 320 villages. Here’s an extract from the list.

A lot of work goes into preparing this list, but in reality, the dates are only a guideline rather than an obligation. To understand why this should be so we need to look at what is happening to the grapes in the vineyards.

A grape grower will be monitoring several indicators to judge the best moment to start picking. To do this they regularly take a few samples of grapes from the vineyards in the weeks approaching the expected harvest date. They then test the sample and record a variety of measures such as the weight of each bunch, the weight of the individual grapes and the ‘technical maturity’ which means the level of sugar and of acidity. The levels of sugar and acidity must evolve in equilibrium to produce the ideal combination that is suitable for making champagne.

 As the sugar content goes up however, the level of acidity goes down and if it goes down too much any champagne made from those grapes may lack the freshness and zing that is essential for good champagne.

This is a subject that greatly occupies the minds of champagne makers because the warmer temperatures experienced since the turn of the century have tended to produce a high sugar content earlier and earlier during the season.

To make matters more complex, the ‘aromatic maturity’ which refers to the development of the aromas and flavours in the grapes, does not necessarily coincide with the technical maturity and the grape grower has to decide on the moment when both indicators are at acceptable levels.

Wait too long for the aromatic maturity to develop and you risk the technical maturity being past its best; pick on a date when the technical maturity is good and your risk missing out on a better level of aromatic maturity.

It’s a tricky balancing act and to get it right requires a lot of skill and experience. Fortunately, if a vigneron feels that it is crucial to start picking before the official start date, it’s always possible to get an exemption, but then you may well wonder about the usefulness of publishing start dates when, in practical terms the final decision on when to harvest comes down to the grape grower’s decision, but that’s a debate for another time.

In the next article we’ll look at the question of how much to pick

In the meantime, all the best and if you have any questions or comments, you can email me at jiles@mymaninchampagne,com