Champagne makers hope pick up in quality will put fizz back in demand

PARIS (Reuters) -Favourable weather has improved the quality of champagne grapes this year, producers said on Thursday, providing some good news at a time of fading demand for the French sparkling wine.

In July, the industry decided to cut this year's grape harvest by 10%, capping it at 9,000 kilograms per hectare, after a 12% cut the previous year.

The reductions were aimed at addressing falling demand amid a global decline in alcohol consumption, economic uncertainty, and concerns over U.S. President Trump's import tariffs.

Grape-picking is over in Champagne, as in other French wine regions, and this year's vintage looks set to be a good one.

LOOKING FOR NEW MARKETS

"We were lucky to have good weather in the right place at the right time," Maxime Toubart, chairman of champagne growers group SGV, told reporters.

Sales volumes of champagne - typically a mix of several years harvests - fell 1.8% in the first eight months of 2025 to 145 million bottles, the SGV said.

However, exports edged up by 0.2% over the same period, after dropping by more than 10% last year.

"We sense a slowdown in the decline, though optimism remains limited," Toubart said.

Exports had increased in the first months of the year as U.S. importers built up supplies ahead of tariffs on European Union wine.

The U.S. tariffs highlight the need for champagne makers to find new markets, producers said. Trade deals between the EU and South American bloc Mercosur as well as India would help create new opportunities, they said.

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide. Editing by Mark Potter)