Champagne house Piper-Heidsieck is to cut a quarter of its workforce in Reims.

The house, a subsidiary of Rémy-Cointreau, announced the redundancies last Friday.

The news came as official industry figures showed that global Champagne sales fell 9% by volume in 2009 compared to 2008, although UK and French supermarkets had reported a rise in revenues from Champagne sales in recent months.

In a statement, Piper-Heidsieck president Anne Charlotte Amory acknowledged that the recession had hit sales hard and said that the company would now focus its production on prestige, special cuvee Champagnes.

‘Piper-Heidsieck is the first to be badly hit by the crisis. The last layoffs date back to 1992. It really is quite hard,’ William Mailly, a representative from the company said.

Last month Rémy-Cointreau reported a 4.5% drop in sales in the first nine months of 2009, after strong demand for Cognac in Asia failed to offset falling Champagne sales for the company.

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Written by James Lawrence

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James Lawrence
James Lawrence
Decanter Magazine, Wine Writer

James Lawrence is a freelance lifestyle journalist, copywriter and blogger, based in London. Aside from Decanter, he has written for The Drinks Business, Harpers Wine & Spirit, City AM and The Telegraph. His special interests are wine fraud, appellation systems the Asian wine market and Napa Valley producers. He writes a wine blog called The Wine Remedy.