Prices of prestige cuvees from top Champagne houses are continuing to rise at an unstoppable rate, despite the current economic downturn.
Wine trading platform Live-Ex reports its Champagne index has seen an increase in value of 27% over the past 12 months.
Live-Ex says the growth is being driven by increased demand for the top brands – a view echoed by Serena Sutcliffe MW, head of wine at auction house Sothebys.
'Prices of prestige cuvees, both young and mature, are going through the roof,' she told decanter.com.
Insiders say the high prices are caused by increased consumption and dwindling stocks. Demand for top Champagnes such as Krug, Dom Perignon and Cristal is also expanding beyond traditional markets.
'There is a geniune shortage,' said Sutcliffe. 'It used to be the British who drank mature vintage Champagne, but more and more people are downing a lot of top Champagne.'
However, she added, vintage Champagnes from respected houses were still 'quite a bargain' and that although the top end of the market was seeing unprecedented growth, in general Champagne was 'down a bit' this year.
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