[News]

First the Russians were credited with fuelling the London property boom.

Then their wealth flooded into sectors from art to sports cars. Now the rush
of roubles into Britain is credited with funding another rising market -
champagne.

Along with wealthy Indians, the estimated 300,000 Russian émigrés in Britain
are being credited with spearheading a sharp increase in sales of rose and
vintage bubbly.

Connoisseurs, buyers and makers gathering around spittoons in London's
Whitehall this week for the industry's annual tasting, the largest in the
world and featuring about 10,000 bottles of champagne, toasted a 5 per cent
growth in the value of the British market last year to more than £340
million or 37 million bottles.

From the ultra-expensive labels of Dom Perignon and Cristal to the dominance
of supermarkets and their own-label brands, champagne sales have now
increased in Britain for 11 years running.

Organisers said a modest 1 per cent rise in the volume of sales in Britain,
the biggest champagne market outside France, was offset by "increasingly
discerning" Britons buying more expensive types of fizz to mark events from
Christmas to Sunday lunch.

Sales of rosé champagne increased by 14 per cent with a similar rise in
single vintage and "cuvée prestige" or blended vintage champagnes. Such is
the level of demand for rosé that some champagne houses have already sold
their 2007 allocation.

Francoise Peretti, director of the Champagne Information Bureau, which
organises the event in the Rubens-decorated Banqueting House on Whitehall,
said demand was being underpinned by wealthy expat communities in London.

She said: "In recent years the area of London and the M25 has become truly
cosmopolitan, in particular with the arrival of large numbers of Russians
and Indian millionaires. Champagne was popular in Russia before 1917 and the
taste for it remains.

"But the British palate as a whole is also becoming increasingly discerning.
The restaurant and food revolution in the UK has instilled demand for
vintage champagnes."

Champagne makers gathered in the gilded surroundings of the Banqueting
House, which provided the backdrop for the execution of Charles I, confirmed
that production in the region will peak at about 380 million bottles at some
point in the next decade, making sales of more expensive fizz the only
avenue for growth.

Members of the Russian émigré community said there was little doubt it would
be doing its bit to bolster the trade. Aliona Muchinskaya, a former Russian
journalist turned party organiser and public relations consultant, said: "As
a Russian, you cannot have an event in London and not offer champagne. It is
a prestige thing."

The increasing taste for fizzy wine means that champagne faces competition
in Britain from rival producers in countries from Spain to New Zealand.

Champagne, whose production methods and name are jealously guarded by
producers, accounts for about 40 per cent of the British fizzy wine market,
worth £830 million ($2290). Ms Peretti insisted that the status of champagne
as a "luxury brand" means its real competition is so-called super-premium
spirits such as expensive vodkas and single malt whiskies.

Indeed, with about 200 different champagnes lined up on long tables and
alongside stands representing 70 champagne houses from the giants of Moet et
Chandon and Laurent Perrier to small co-operatives, the talk at this week's
event was more about how to keep up with current demand.

As recently as five years ago, rosé champagne was considered a niche market
in Britain.

Now it is the area of strongest sales growth, forcing growers to crank up
production of what is increasingly called "the English champagne".

Peter Reeves, head of Cattier champagne in Britain, said: "The growth in
rosé has been extraordinary. There is a two-year time lag in champagne
production - the wine made this year will not be available until 2009. So
the rosé we have to sell this year was made in 2005, before the trend became
really clear.

We are having to tell new customers we don't have any rosé available this
year and can only sell to our existing clients."

As one buyer for a well-known wine merchant put it: "People buy champagne to
feel good about themselves. There are plenty of cheaper wines out there that
are every bit as good as champagne.

But champagne has cornered the market in allure and we fall for it every
time."

- Independent 03/30/2007