PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — New Year’s is often celebrated with flutes of Champagne, but some retailers are in limited supply.
Some liquor stores in the area are putting a cap on the number of bottles of certain brands customers can buy.
“There’s a limit on Dom Perignon, there’s a limit on Veuve Clicquot. There’s only so much product to go around,” said Gordana Kostovski, owner, operator and sommelier of Townsend Wentz Restaurant Group.
She said the shortage is a ripple of the pandemic that’s affecting the restaurant industry.
“Why would we buy something that we wouldn’t be able to actually sell?” she questioned. So if restaurants don’t buy the product, distributors won’t buy it either.
“And if the distributors are not buying it, then grower-farmer Champagne houses, they cut back as well.”
Those early days of the pandemic were also bad for farming the grapes needed to make Champagne, Kostovski said, and people were sick and unable to work.
The shortage expands beyond Champagne — scotch, bourbon and beer are also affected.
If revelers can’t find any bubbly before the clock strikes midnight, Kostovski said there are other comparable wines.
“There are other regions in France,” she said. “It’s not technically Champagne, but it’s Cremant, Cremant Limoux, which we serve by the glass. There’s beautiful sparkling that comes from the Penedès region. There’s German sparkling.”
She also recommends Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine, or ones from California.
Whatever you choose, Kostovski offered this pro tip while making your selection: The smaller the bubbles, the higher the quality.
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