Crémant hits a record as Champagne loses more ground

Sparkling wine producers are facing a more divided market, with Champagne and Cava under pressure while Crémant, Prosecco and alcohol-free alternatives continue to gain ground, according to the latest sparkling wine report from ProWein.

The report points to another year of decline for Champagne. Data from Comité Champagne show that 266 million bottles were sold in 2025, down 2% from the previous year. That followed a 9% drop in the prior year. The report said consumers are increasingly shifting to less expensive sparkling wines, a trend that has been harder for Champagne to match because of its strict production rules and premium positioning.

Crémant moved in the opposite direction. Nearly 123 million bottles were sold worldwide in 2025, up 7.5% from a year earlier and marking a record, according to the report. Export growth has become a larger part of that expansion. In 2020, about 70% of production was sold in France’s domestic market. Now exports account for 41% of sales.

Price has been a central factor in Crémant’s rise. The report put the average bottle price at about €7, making it one of the more accessible sparkling categories at a time when household budgets remain tight. The Fédération Nationale des Producteurs et Élaborateurs de Crémant said it wants Crémant to remain affordable for as many consumers as possible.

Prosecco also continued to expand, though at a slower pace than in the previous year. Production reached 667 million bottles in 2025, up 1.1%. In 2024, growth had been 7%. Over the past decade, Prosecco sales have more than doubled, and more than 80% of output is exported, underscoring how dependent the category is on international demand.

The United States remained an important growth market for Prosecco. Sales there rose 8% in the first nine months of 2025, according to the report. France also posted strong gains, with Prosecco sales up 21% even as the country produces both Champagne and Crémant.

Champagne’s weaker sales picture did not erase progress on sustainability targets. The region’s “Viticulture Durable en Champagne” program, launched in 2014, aims to have all vineyards certified as sustainable by 2030. So far, 14,700 hectares, or 43% of vineyard plantings, have received the certification label tied to standards on biodiversity, water use, waste management and carbon footprint.

Cava had one of the sharpest setbacks among major sparkling categories. Sales fell 13% in 2025 to 190 million bottles. The report linked that decline to repeated droughts that have reduced harvests in recent years and to broader weakness in wine consumption in Spain. Even so, Cava remains Spain’s most widely distributed wine internationally, with about 70% of production exported.

Alcohol-free and low-alcohol sparkling wines continued to show momentum, especially in Germany. More than 22 million bottles of non-alcoholic sparkling wine were sold there in 2025, up 12%, giving the segment a 9% share of the German sparkling wine market.

Grand View Research estimates that the global non-alcoholic wine market could reach $3.78 billion by 2030, growing at about 8% annually. For beverage companies and distributors, the split between declining premium segments and expanding value or no-alcohol categories may shape assortment decisions, pricing strategies and export priorities across sparkling wine portfolios.