No Champagne in the Champagne Room

A new year, a new day, and Eric Asimov at the NY Times is at it again. I know, I know, I've said a million times how much I like the guy's blog - The Pour - but he's got another great piece up on Champagne and how it's being effected by the struggling economy. His conclusion? Basically that it's more expensive than ever, being drank less and hard to market in a time when a lot of folks don't have much to celebrate. Follow the link for the whole post, but here's a bit to whet your whistle:

“It’s a completely different playing field today,’’ Paul Grieco, an owner at Hearth, Insieme and Terroir told me. “One of our investors said: ‘You don’t want to show extravagance. You still want to go out to dinner, but who the hell has anything to celebrate?’ Obviously, the usual motivation for Champagne drinking — the celebrations of bonuses, mergers, real estate acquisitions — is not available this year. Apparently still having a job is not reason enough to pop corks. Champagne is also a lot more expensive than it was even a year ago, with prices for an entry-level bottle at retail running roughly $8 to $10 ahead of last year. Many restaurants are charging $20 for a glass of Champagne. This seems outrageous no matter the state of the economy."