Champagne loses its fizz as economic bubble pops
Johannes Simon/Getty Images The party’s over. As the economy fizzled out and the housing bubble burst, champagne sales fell 2.6 percent in the first half of this year, compared with last year. It’s the first time sales of bubbly have declined since 2000, according to the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne. In the United States, ...
Johannes Simon/Getty Images
The party’s over. As the economy fizzled out and the housing bubble burst, champagne sales fell 2.6 percent in the first half of this year, compared with last year. It’s the first time sales of bubbly have declined since 2000, according to the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne. In the United States, sales fell 22 percent in the first half of 2008.
There are at least a couple of places where people are still heartily toasting success, however: Russia, where champagne sales increased 158 percent last year, and China, which had a 74 percent increase amid the growing popularity of wine there.
Preeti Aroon was copy chief at Foreign Policy from 2009-2016 and was an assistant editor from 2007-2009. Twitter: @pjaroonFP
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