Exports of champagne (and we mean the real champagne that comes from France) hit the new all-time record last year (2007) - 300 million bottles.

And this is also due to new and growing demands from Asian countries like China and India. China consumed half a million bottles last year which is not much compared to others but it’s about 30 times more then year before! Japan also contributes to the grow from Asian countries with 8 million bottles (4 times more then 10 years ago). Russia and Brazil - another emerging markets, are also catching up.

According to Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, France itself is still the leading consumer of champagne (56% of the world’s total). Followed by neighboring Brits who consumed 36 million bottles last year. U.S. is still a big consumer of this elite fizzy drink - 20 million bottles.

The problem is that the demand continues to grow and will do so even if the prices are skyrocketing like they do already. This is due to the production capabilities from the region of Champagne. Under the French regulations, producers of Champagne must grow champagne grapes only in a specific region and they cannot actually produce more then there is to. Another factor is that smaller producers of champagne prefer to stock their wines to be sold later, it is estimated that around 100 million bottles are kept in stock. The demand is so strong for some brands that they themselves asked not to be advertised anymore, as they will not be able to supply more.

So, what will we do as consumers? We are used to have this bottle of champagne on our new year’s eve or when celebrating special occasions, signing important deals, weddings, child birth, etc. There will not be enough for everyone, that’s for sure!

The good news is that although there’s not enough champagne for everyone, there is enough good sparkling wine! The thing is that we can name champagne just the bubbly drink from that region of France and all the other producers of the same bubbly drink from other countries are just producing it under a different name. The Italians came out with their own name - Prosseco, Spanish are calling it Cava, some East-Europeans - Sekt, Moldavians had to come with their own name as well - Spumant (by the way they do produce one of the best sparkling wines and some wineries produce it following the classical method). The rest of the world is just calling it - Sparkling Wine.