Why does champagne cost more than wine?

First of all, remember that champagne is a wine. But it is a wine with a complex production process. So the first reason is the cost of producing champagne, which is more expensive than still wine: manual harvesting, winemaking techniques (which require a lot of processing), the price of the grapes"the price is then set by the CIVC (the big champagne houses buy most of the grapes they need, which are one of the most expensive grape varieties in the world) and the age of the wine (minimum 18 months, but usually longer) explain in part the cost of a bottle of champagne.

However, most sparkling wines made with the same technique cost 2 to 3 times less. There are therefore other reasons for the extra cost of Champagne linked to its reputation and its fame in the world, and to the marketing, promotional and advertising expenses that contribute to create and maintain this reputation

This is particularly true for the big brands. Since the 19th century, one of the missions of the great Champagne wineries has been to shape the image of their wines: champagne is a festive drink of excellence, a drink of collective and personal rituals, and an expression of savoir-faire, luxurious and refined. "à la française". The result is two centuries of success and an offer that struggles to meet the demand, as Champagne comes from a delimited territory (a little more than 30 000 hectares).

The impact of this image and this market mechanism on costs cannot be ignored for Champagne.