The_CEO_Magazine_ANZ_-_December_2016

What lies behind the bubbly wonderment that is Champagne?

WORDS PATRICK HADDOCK

Champagne:

MAN VS WINE

a cause for

celebration

I

n real life and in fiction, Champagne is often catapulted into the

consciousness from characters as diverse as Winston Churchill, James

Bond and even into the realms of rap with Kanye West and his cohorts all

endorsing the sheer joy of sparkling wine.

Australia is now one of the biggest importers of Champagne globally, and

we are embracing the effervescent liquid with an unquenchable thirst. We are

now one of the world’s fastest growing Champagne markets, only just behind

China and Russia, making us the sixth largest importer in the world.

In 2015, we imported 8.1 million bottles of Champagne — an increase of 24.31

per cent on the previous year’s figure of 6.5 million bottles. That looks set to

rise again in an increasingly competitive market that sees supermarket chains

like Aldi sell their own label Champagne for $25 a pop. It seems that everyone

likes the taste of fizz in an increasingly democratic sparkly universe.

Closer to home, local sparkling wine styles have never looked better, all helping

to spread the allure. In fact, the champion wine at the recent Sydney Royal

Wine Show was the Arras Grand Vintage 2007 from Tasmania. This follows the

same wine, just weeks earlier, being awarded the same plaudit at the Royal

Queensland Wine Show. It’s rare that a sparkling wine is hailed as a champion

wine at any wine show (let alone two) and that goes to show how far we have

come in the development of the style. The chief of judges said that the Arras

“was up there in terms of quality with many of the great Champagne houses.”

The maker of Arras, Ed Carr, is now celebrated as being Australia’s best

Sparkling winemaker and someone who has championed the terroir of

Tasmania to ensure it is taken as seriously as those from the hallowed soils

of Champagne itself.