The Champagne Report 2022: Part one

"With demand currently outstripping supply, the Champagne market is fast becoming overheated.  And it’s not just stock and allocation management that is becoming an issue for consumers – in addition to empty shelves and rising prices, lovers of fizz are having to contend with changes in the bottle too, with some wines rushed to release earlier than usual due to the huge demand.

The impact of such decisions was evident in the tasting of 350 wines I conducted this August in London for the first part of Club Oenologique’s 2022 Champagne Report (focused on grandes marques, other houses and cooperatives; part II, focused on grower Champagnes, will follow in 2023). That several wines failed to reach their standard level was clearly due to shorter lees ageing or abbreviated post-disgorgement. This was essentially a problem for non-vintage Champagnes, not the smaller vintage category nor prestige cuvées, whose release times are sacrosanct. Apart from the most coveted elite, however, many prestige cuvées still struggle to sell, despite the thirsty times which we are living through. In these cases, vintage releases are the opposite of their NV counterparts, with wines getting older in the cellars, which is not always to their benefit." Essi Avellan MW. 

Read on for Part One of the Champagne Report 2022 on Club Oenologique

Essi Avellan is Finland’s first Master of Wine. Recognized as a champagne and sparkling wine specialist, Avellan is the author of several wine books, including Essi Avellan’s Champagne and Matka Champagneen. She has also revised and extended the 3rd and 4th edition of Tom Stevenson’s award-winning Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne and Sparkling Wine. For her MW studies she wrote her dissertation on single-vineyard Champagnes and won both the Lily Bollinger Medal for best taster and the Tim Derouet Memorial Award for best overall student. Essi also holds a Master of Science degree in Business Administration. Essi is a reputed wine judge; in addition to FINE Magazines and The World of Fine Wine tasting panels she has acted as the chair of Decanter World Wine Awards’ Champagne panel in the past and is a jury member at the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships.  She is an organiser of the annual Grand Champagne Helsinki event. Has has been knighted as Chevalier l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the Minister of Agriculture of France. She has also been awarded the titles Dame-Officier of Ordre de Coteaux de Champagne and Commandeur of Commanderie de Bordeaux. Tom Stevenson claims that Essi Avellan - with whom he has collaborated in various forms for more than ten years - is the most talented and consistent taster he has ever met, even compared to himself.

She was present in Romania at two editions of the WineUp Fair in Transylvania, presenting selections of LVMH champagnes both in the masterclasses and in the gourmet dinners. After participating as a juror in the WineUp Official Selection, she also communicated her conclusion about Romanian wines: "Although you are a country with a large production, you need to do more to promote the image of your wines abroad and to be able to sell on a wider scale. You have a very interesting variety of original wines, which could also become appreciated among the international community because, perhaps, people are no longer interested only in Cabernet and Chardonnay, they want to experience something else." Essi Avellan MW.