In other words, while Champagne Collet has a strong reputation for quality, it does not have the awareness or margins of a Grand Marque such as Pol Roger, Bollinger, or Veuve Clicquot, making funding big capital investments, particularly in a contracting market for Champagne, a challenge for COGEVI.

That’s because, until this year, prices have been increasing for grapes, (despite a volume decline in overall shipments), and, due to the Champagne ageing process, everything being sold now has been made from grapes bought at least two years ago. This BoB business is significant and JAD has become a major supplier of own label Champagne to UK supermarkets including Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury’s. Between them the three cooperative groups that promote the Jacquart brand have 1,700 grower members who own 2,620ha of vineyards which are spread across the appellation in 130 different villages including 10 grands crus and 22 premiers crus. This area of vineyard represents just over 8% of the entire Champagne AOC. Currently about 30% of this volume is sold and marketed by Alliance Champagne, the rest by the other three individual cooperatives that formed Alliance. Despite the quality of its vineyard holdings in Champagne, and the good standard of COGEVI’s output under the Collet brand, this particular part of the group has run into financial troubles, and it is believed that it has requested a bailout from the Alliance Champagne board. Together, Jacquart and Montaudon account for around 5m bottles in annual sales for Alliance, or one fifth of the group’s output – it produces 25m bottles each year.Furthermore, the primary sector of decline in Champagne has been among less well-known brands, including those closely tied to the declining French market, as well as those classified as supermarket own-label or exclusive brands, which, in the majority of cases, are supplied by the cooperatives.

So why have these senior figures left COGEVI? While this is speculation, it appears that COGEVI may have spent too much money, with db sources citing a number of major investments, with a couple of capital-intensive ones mentioned in particular.

Meanwhile, the unbranded sector of Champagne, often supplied by cooperatives, is declining in terms of sales and profitability, which may mean that another source of COGEVI business is in decline.

These are the construction of a new, large production centre in Oger and an impressive wine museum in Aÿ, called ‘La Cité du Champagne’, which are in addition to what is reputed to have been extensive spending on marketing its Collet brand, which totals around 500,000 bottles in annual sales, less than 10% of the cooperative’s 6m bottle output. Furthermore, producers have a contractual obligation to buy grapes at a pre-agreed price, meaning that even during our current coronavirus-affected times, producers won’t be paying a reduced fee for their grape supply. (Any reported grape price reduction tends to represent just the small amount sold on the free market). One of Champagne’s biggest groups is breaking up, but is this a sign of wider problems in the sector or a case of excessive spending within one business? We look at the situation. COGEVI produce Champagne Collet As db has been assured, this separation will have no immediate effect on Alliance Champagne, which has, as its flagship brand, Jacquart, as well as a further label, Montaudon – which tends to be used for selling large volumes of fizz in the major multiple retailers.However, one insider has made it clear that the reason for the break up is connected with past over-spending, rather than any issue with incomes during the present downturn in Champagne consumption.