The French Are Drinking Less Champagne After Boom Years

  • Number of bottles shipped in France drops to lowest since 1985
  • Inflation weighs on household budgets, Comité Champagne says

Bottles of champagne for sale in a wine store in Paris, France.

Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg

France’s Champagne producers shipped fewer bottles of bubbly last year, another sign of softness in the luxury market.

Foreign shipments from the French region dropped 8.2%, the Comité Champagne, which represents the producers, said Monday. Within France, shipments fell to the lowest level in almost four decades excluding 2020, which was skewed by pandemic lockdowns.