Champagne Papi: Why People Are Buying More Champagne And Weed

It’s time to celebrate, folks. So get those flutes out because champagne is making its anticipated return. You might have dabbled in the celebratory fizzy drink throughout the pandemic, but many didn’t have an excuse to party or celebrate during our months indoors and isolated.

Now that life is going back to normal thanks to our vaccinated population; champagne sales are surging to what they once were prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the General Syndicate of Champagne Winegrowers, the moderate reopening of global bubbly markets is expected to sell roughly 305 million champagne bottles worldwide. 

“If I have to guess, I think that consumers are ready to celebrate even just the little things in life,” Natalie Pavlatos, a spokeswoman for the Champagne Bureau, USA, told CNBC.

And the same goes for cannabis. Although marijuana sales peaked during the pandemic and left users bored at home smoking weed all day long, the demand is expected to get bigger. In fact, according to Forbes, the legal cannabis industry in the United States is projected to pull in roughly $43 billion by 2025.

In terms of champagne sales, the market suffered an 18% drop in 2020 compared to 2019, according to data from the Comite Champagne, a trade association representing the growers and houses of champagne. Their data also noted that 2020 bubbly sales generated $4.8 billion and exported 244 million bottles.

Once we hit the dreadful 2020, France’s second-largest export industry after aeronautics recorded a loss of nearly $980 million. Pavlatos mentioned that we won’t be able to track just how much champagne was sold this year until after the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving and ending around New Year’s Eve.

She also added that the Champagne Bureau recently learned that producers are recording sales much higher than last year’s, which let them sigh in relief. Pavlatos also said that in some places, sales are ahead of what they were pre-pandemic. “So we may actually be seeing not only a return to normal but even better performance than we had in 2019.”

That same year, champagne houses shipped 297.6 million bottles worldwide, and most of them landed in the United States, which generated more than $753 million in sales. The London-based IWSR Drinks Market Analysis told CNBC that “The category was down almost 18% last year after declines of 2% in 2019.”

They conclude that global champagne sales are expected to grow about 4% this year, with similar annual increases through 2025.