SLP: French viticulture is in crisis. But it’s not just the entry-level segment that is currently affected, but also the luxury segment. What is your situation at the moment?
FR: When the corona pandemic hit, we were all very worried. Will it take five years for us to recover? But people had something like a revenge situation, they bought wine and champagne to drink at home. We never thought, that we will recover so early. In 2022 and 2023, there was a huge boom. At the same time, this presented us with major logistical problems, especially for exports. There were no more containers, for example, so their costs increased sevenfold. Importers also built up large stocks. And this year we had to realize that these stocks did not correspond to consumer consumption. As the interest rate increased by a factor of 3 to 4 at the same time, everyone in the distribution chain had to reduce his level of stock. That was the situation until around September. Now we are seeing signs that things are changing and orders are being placed again. Consumption itself has not fallen that much. Next year will certainly be better.
Donald Trump’s re-inauguration as President of the USA will take place on January 20. In the run-up to the inauguration, he said: “The best beautiful in the dictionary for me is ‘tariffs’”.
During his first term in office between 2017 and 2021, you have already experienced punitive tariffs in the USA, even if Champagne was exempt. How will you react to this development, do you now have something like a counter-strategy or a plan B?
FR: The USA is a big market, one of the top three for us. We can’t just get out of it and sell the wine elsewhere. We were particularly affected at the time with our Domaines Ott winery from Provence and Château Pichon Comtesse from Bordeaux, but we managed. If there are new punitive tariffs, we will probably share them with the importers. And then we will analyze how consumers react to a price increase of 10 or 20 percent.
JBL: If Donald Trump introduces overall tariffs on imports, he will have a problem with inflation. And that’s another battle he has to win in his country. He can’t do it all at the same time. He is not a fool.
There are also optimistic voices. David Châtillon, President of the Union des maisons de champagne (UMC), for example, has noted that the last Trump administration was very good for the US economy. Many people have earned a lot of money and, not least, bought a lot of champagne.
JBL: There is indeed a lot of money in the US, and they will keep spending it. We have a saying: the top third in the US spends money in euros, the middle class in dollars, while the bottom part of the population pays de facto in Chinese yuan. The top class in the United States still drives European cars, dresses in European design wear and drinks European wine and champagne.
At our last meeting just over a year ago, we asked ourselves together what the future holds for the world. Did you expect this development?
FR: There have always been crises. Even if you look at the last 25 or 30 years, it hasn’t been easy. Think of the crash of 1992/93 [including the collapse of the European Monetary System (EMS), SLP]. But back then we were able to buy Champagne Deutz, whose owners were in big trouble.
JBL: This brings us back to the experience and long term history of the Roederer family: the Maison has such fantastic vineyards today because there have been crises. Crises in which there were also opportunities. Think of the phylloxera crisis, everyone sold vineyards, we bought more. It was the same during the First World War or the economic crisis of 1929. In the end, our beautiful vineyards are a result of these crises. You have to look at things in this way, optimistically and with a long-term perspective. And last but not least, we have stocks in our cellars that age very well.
In addition to the parent company Champagne Louis Roederer in Reims, founded in 1776, the Groupe Champagne Louis Roederer also includes Champagne Deutz, Ramos Pinto in Portugal, Domaines Ott* in Provence, Delas Frères in the Rhône Valley, Château de Pez, Château Haut-Beauséjour and Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Bordeaux, as well as Roederer Estate, Scharffenberger Cellars, Merry Edwards, Domaine Anderson and Diamond Creek in the USA.
The first part of the interview about the development of Cristal Rosé has been published online by Meiningers Sommelier under the title “Ein Labor für Exzellenz”.
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Stefan Pegatzky / Time Tunnel Images
