Champagne loses its fizz as sales to UK fall to 25-year low with prices soaring

Champagne sales are going flat, falling to a 25-year low. Some 22.3 million bottles of champers were shipped to the UK in 2024 – the lowest since the millennium, when 20.5 million were imported.

Experts blame the lag on the rise of teetotalism and trendy tipples like cocktails and craft beer, plus the cost of living and the unstable political climate making drinkers more wary. The price of champagne has soared 25% in the past three years, with the average bottle now costing shoppers £10 more than in 2021. Meanwhile, sales of cheaper alternatives are booming.

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Last year 660 million bottles of prosecco were sold in the UK – an “all-time-high”, according to the Prosecco DOC Consortium. And 114.5 million bottles of Cremant, a sparkling wine made using a similar method to champagne, were sold in the same period – 5.9% more than in 2023.

Nevertheless, James Simpson, of the UK Champagne Shippers Association, is adamant things will pick up.

He said: “Champagne has got this extraordinary brand name. Champagne is the celebration drink.

"You remember when you last had a bottle of champagne, but you don’t necessarily remember the last time you opened a bottle of prosecco or cremant.”

Only sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region of France according to strict guidelines, including on the type of grapes, pressing and fermentation methods can be called champagne.

Pocket-friendly offerings include ’s £14.99 Veuve Monsigny and ’s £14.88 Louvel Fontaine.