French fizz falls flat in the US

CHAMPAGNE'S bubble has been burst by plummeting exports to the key American market. A combination of terrorist attacks, economic gloom and the pervading threat of renewed attacks in the US has taken the fizz out of the French drink that has cornered the market for happiness and optimism.

'No one wants to order champagne except for weddings,' said Liz Neumark, boss of a New York catering firm. 'They are afraid of being perceived as too happy in a time of great mourning.'

December is traditionally viewed by many of the great champagne houses as the make-or-break month. This year, the emphasis is on break. Reports from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other sophisticated, cash-rich cities imply champagne is going down the plughole this festive season.

Just a week ago, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, the luxury goods company with four champagne houses, put out its third profits warning in two months, while Harper's, the weekly British wine trade magazine, reports bubbly sales to America being only half of last year.

'If the second-half figures for 2001 are as bad, there will be several major houses looking for an alternative market for more than 10 million extra bottles of fizz,' said the magazine.

Across corporate America, the word is out to cut back on bubbly at a time when the nation is at war and mourning the dead of 11 September. Krug, a high-end champagne that has sold on its name alone for decades, is now considering staging its first-ever US ad campaign.

In Britain, however, drinkers are taking advantage of £9.99 a bottle champagne, as producers slash prices to encourage sales that have lost their fizz since millennium celebrations. Elsewhere in Europe, the trend is for domestic fizz. Sales of sekt are up in Germany, prosecco is booming in Italy and 'Crimean champagne' has enjoyed a 12% sales increase across Russia.