Champagne: Shop Now and Avoid The Rush!

by Conrado Bondoc
Executive Editor

In November 1997 while I was a weekly columnist for AOL, I had devoted an entire week on a subject which is near and dear to my heart: champagne. That column came out two weeks before the start of the 1997 holiday season, because traditionally, wine retailers slash prices due to high holiday demand.

But much more than letting readers know about the typical holiday sales, the primary purpose was to exhort everyone to buy their champagne for the "turn-of-the-millennium" celebrations as soon as possible. Two of the reasons behind my "exhortation": 1) for both nonvintage and vintage, all champagne benefits from a year of rest; and 2) things are happening which might presage a possible shortage of champagne.

Have my feelings changed since the AOL days? Nope. Keep in mind that there’ll be increased demand for two New Year’s Eves.

If you find a special champagne which you’d like to open during the next two New Year’s, don’t wait … buy ’em before someone else does.

Buyers and Cellars

Whether or not a shortage of champagne occurs, one thing remains true: vintage and nonvintage champagne needs rest after purchase, preferably a year.

Remember, champagne is a wine. Which means that just like a red bordeaux or a white burgundy, champagne is just as susceptible to the effects of jarring, jostling, and rough handling which occurs during its journey from Epernay and Reims all the way to your retailer’s shelf.

And contrary to common myth, champagne doesn’t "go south" quickly. In fact, with proper storage (e.g., your basement), champagne can last years. In ideal conditions (55 degree environments), the finest bubbly can last decades; I’ve had champagne from as far back as 1927. And yes, it still had its bubbles.

So as long as you don’t store your bottles next to the furnace, you can be sure that they’ll be enjoyable. ON THE OTHER HAND … storing your champagne in a refrigerator for longer than six months isn’t a good idea either. The vibrations from the refrigerator’s compressor will damage the wine over time.

"Availa-bubbly": The New Y2K Problem?

Unfortunately, some of the prognostications I made in my 1997 AOL column came true. Here are some indicators:

• Champagne industry insiders have told me that since the fall of 1997, hotels, restaurants, cruise lines, and other companies have been block buying and prebooking thousands of cases of champagne. In some instances, these buyers have been paying up front for wine futures for the "grandes marques" of champagne.

• In 1996 Champagne house Louis Roederer announced a special release of 2,000 methuselahs (the equivalent of eight bottles) of Cristal. Each methuselah is individually numbered and signed, and will be delivered to each customer later this year. At $2,000 per methuselah, the entire subscription sold out in 1997.

• The regional rep for Champagne house Charles Heidsieck told me last December that retailer orders for the 1990 vintage were substantially more than the number of available cases. Interestingly, these heavy orders were placed long before Wine Spectator magazine rated the 1990 Charles Heidsieck at the top of the list with a "97" out of 100.

• The media (myself included) haven’t helped the situation. Even cable network CNBC ran reports last December about champagne shortages becoming the new Y2K crisis.

Will there be a shortage?

Generally, I believe that everyone who wants to pop a cork on the upcoming New Year’s Eves will be able to. The industry’s growth in production has been steady.

HOWEVER … for the best bottlings of champagne, that may not be the case.

It depends upon how many "non-retail" companies are actually prebooking cases of the prestige cuvées. Because of the plethora of millennium parties, I wouldn’t be surprised if only 10 percent of released stock makes it into the retail chain. On the other hand, champagne houses have stated publicly that they will meet the demand. While I’m sure that they want to, that’ll be a tough goal to achieve; more than any other wine, quality control in the manufacture of champagne is strict.

But remember … because a new millennium happens once every thousand years (no kidding!), the demand for the best bubbly from Reims and Epernay will increase substantially.

So What Should You Look For?

Over the ensuing months I’ll provide my infallible opinions on some of the most well known of the prestige cuvées, including Krug (my personal favorite, so I name it first!), Cristal, Dom Pérignon, Veuve Cliquot, and Gosset.

But what are the best years for champagne? Below is a table of my top five picks for champagne vintages, in order. Keep in mind that some (probably most) of the vintages below are extremely scarce; available only through a wine auction, or by special order from the champagne house (the best example being Bollinger. And Krug regularly releases older vintages from their reserves, called "Krug Collection."

Stay tuned over the ensuing months for in-depth looks at specific champagne houses and their offerings!

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