First there was the Tsunami, then hurricane Katrina, then the Kashmir earthquake, and now, a disaster of upper class proportions that might actually stir the slumbering nuvo-riche: London is running out of Champagne. Yes, that’s right. Apparently the overcompensated financial services elite, flush with cash as the Euro crushes the dollar and other currencies into submission, have simply drunk French bubbly into endangerment, at least on one side of the channel.
Oh, sure, you can still wander down to Oddbins and pick up a nice bottle of non-vintage bubbly, but if you’re of the mind some Friday night in the near future in London to down a few imperials of Dom Perignon or Veuve Cliquot after making a killing on the currency market, well, as we say in America, you’re shit out of luck.
A 40% increase in consumption of the bubbly stuff has many people scratching their heads, and distributors running scared. Sounds like it’s a good time to be rich in London, but perhaps better to drink reds these days.