The Champagne Industry Is Trying to Throw Major Shade at Prosecco

Prosecco is exploding worldwide. Not literally exploding, which can also happen, but figuratively, in that its sales number are soaring past its snooty and more expensive French counterpart Champagne.

This recent surge in popularity has even led to British pubs looking at ways to make Prosecco, which is a highly regulated Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC), more readily available via keg. Italians were—predictably—pissed off at this attempt by the Brits to pump wine with carbon dioxide and pass it off as a protected product like Prosecco.

And then there was the time where Crimean winemakers tried to pass off their counterfeit swill as real-deal DOC Prosecco. Once again, Italy—ever the stickler for tradition—got really mad again.

But if there is one thing that the Italians can be happy about—other than living in culinary paradise—it's that Prosecco is becoming a global phenomenon, so much so that producers are having trouble keeping up.

While Champagne maintains its status symbol appeal, sales of the Italian bubbly stuff have hit 400 million bottles annually, up from 320 million last year, and far ahead of Champagne's mere 300 million bottles per year. All of this has the French grape industry taking a hard look at itself.

Last weekend, Pascal Ferrat, the president of the union which represents Champagne producers, told a crowd at the Viteff sparkling wine conference that he wasn't worried about competition from Italy, according to Wine Searcher. For Ferrat, Champagne's reputation as a luxurious status symbol is a sufficient moat to ward off any Italian competitors.

"Champagne represents only 8 percent of the volume of sparkling wines in the world, but 45 percent of the value," he reportedly told the audience. "For special occasions, Champagne remains paramount."

But this reasoning failed to appease Champagne executives like Jérôme Philippon, who sees Prosecco as a more modest, and well-branded, alternative to his product, unlike the great Cava boom of 2012 which turned out to be a huge fad. Instead he pointed directly to Britain's recent fixation with Prosecco.

"In England, many establishments have been offering Prosecco as an aperitif over the past three years," he told Wine Searcher. "When we drink Prosecco, we drink Italy, and La Dolce Vita. It is a competitor to Champagne, but also a competitor for gin cocktails and soft drinks. But I am optimistic for Champagne; our survival does not depend on price. We must refocus on luxury wine and the expensive end of the market."

Ultimately, it seems like consumers have already made a choice. They would rather drink more of a cheaper, less pretentious fermented grape, and deplete the global stockpile of Prosecco in the process.