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CHAMPAGNE
If the cocktail offering is the protagonist in the world’s best bars, champagne is a not-to-be neglected understudy.
Whether for topping up cocktails (the French 75 is no.15 in our classics list/Champagne Cocktail is no.46), sales by the glass or by the bottle, champagne is a weapon of the cocktail bar’s arsenal. Particularly when opened using a sabre.
Champagne’s importance is not lost on Diageo and Pernod Ricard, which can both offer recognisable brands as part of their packages.
This year the LVMH (and Diageo-distributed and part-owned) Moët & Chandon, takes the title of best seller.
This is the world’s most voluminous champagne, so it comes as no surprise that it usurped last year’s champ Perrier-Jouët which, though not a top-10 champagne in the wider world, is given a leg-up here by its owner Pernod Ricard, which knows a thing or two about selling to bars.
On the surface the list hasn’t changed much since last year (Krug and Dom Pérignon in, Bollinger and Taittinger out) but looking under the bonnet, we can see that the top half of brands has bunched.
A few more house listings here and there for the top-two and Veuve Clicquot being the difference between top and mid-table.
In previous years Moët & Chandon and Perrier-Jouët formed a duopoly in this list but this time no brand has a domineering share.
In the trending list we get a better insight into what people are asking for and what bartenders like to recommend (or up-sell, as the case may be). Ruinart jumps to a clear first, while Louis Roederer heads a group of brands with similar recent appeal.
Interestingly, Moët & Chandon doesn’t even make our top 10. Could it be patrons of the world’s best bars would like to drink a different champagne to the one they can find in every establishment in every country in the world?
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The Best Selling list is based on bottles sold while the Top Trending list refers to on-trend brands that are being requested right now but are not necessarily sold in high volumes.
To find out more about how we carried out the survey and collated the results read How We Did It.
Check out the other lists here:
Toinc Water/Water Liqueurs, World Whiskies, Tequila, Gin, US Whiskey, Vodka, Brandy, Rum, Scotch, Bartenders' Choice.
