Happy New Year!
It’s only the beginning of 2022 and already things have been bubbling up in Champagne.
The Champagne industry is filled with fascinating shakers and movers – bubble makers – who are certainly always ensuring champagne never loses its pétillance!
Here’s a brief round-up of the latest headlines:
. Champagne legend, Claude Taittinger, passed away in Paris on Monday, January 3, 2022, at the age of 94. Claude Taittinger was responsible for the eponymous Champagne house’s massive global success in the second half of the 20th century. Joining the house at the age of 22, in 1949, he (for nearly five decades) managed the champagne house, investing in vineyards, modernizing marketing and co-founding Domaine Carneros in Napa Valley, California.
In 2005, Taittinger was purchased by the American investment company Starwood capital.
Luckily in 2006, the House was bought back by Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, a grandson of the original founder.
. Two iconic champagne power-women executives are stepping down from their high ranked positions.
Following a 30-year run at the helm of Champagne Bureau in the UK, Françoise Peretti has resigned from her director position. Peretti’s replacement will be announced soon.
Across the pond, in Champagne, Margareth Henriquez has announced her departure from Krug as CEO. Henriquez will join luxury crystalware producer Baccarat as managing director from the start of April. Henriquez joined the Krug family in 2008 and is credited for jump starting the label back to notoriety. She pioneered the Krug ID concept and brought the Grand Cuvée back on the shelves of stores around the world.
. A 74-year-old former French paratrooper named Jean-Jacque Savin is attempting to become the oldest person to row across the Atlantic Ocean.
His motivation? To celebrate his 75th birthday mid-ocean with a bottle of Champagne and foie gras. Savin departed Sagres in Portugal on Saturday, January 1, 2022, debuting his epic three-month journey that should take him to Martinique, in the French Caribbean.
. Nearly 55,000 champagne glasses filled with Möet and Chandon were stacked together to form a pyramid and break a Guinness World Records. This extraordinary accomplishment took place at Atlantis, The Palm Hotel in Dubai. Erected in a tent, the pyramid measured more than 27 feet high. It took more than 55 man-hours to stack, and 5 days in total.
. Good news for Champagne! Jean-Marie Barillère, the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC) president, is anticipating shipments to reach close to 320 million bottles for 2021. While not exceeding nor matching the the all-time high of 338.8m bottles shipped in 2007, the predicted total would bring the Champagne region near its second highest level this century. “Globally it’s a big surprise, clearly people were fed up with Covid and wanted to share good moments together again,” said Barillère. In his speech to the general assembly of the Association Viticole Champenoise (AVC) back in December, Barillère commented: “2021 will end with a record turnover for the appellation. Yes, we will exceed 315m bottles, yes, we will exceed €5.5bn turnover. It’s a nice gift for my last year of co-presidency of the inter-profession.”
. A new cooperative has emerged. Born out of the fusion between CV Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte and the Coopérative Régionale des Vins de Champagne (C.R.V.C) Champagne CASTELNAU, the new cooperative, “Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne”, gathers some 6,000 vignerons (growers) and about 3000 hectares across the entire Champagne AOC.
