Champagne in Britain, 1800-1914: How the British Transformed a French Luxury

313 Pages·2021·6.697 MB·English

by  Graham Harding

Champagne in Britain, 1800–1914
Food in Modern History: Traditions and Innovations
Series Editors:
Peter Scholliers
Amy Bentley
This new monograph series pays serious attention to food as a focal point in
historical events from the late eighteenth century to present day.
Employing the lens of technology broadly construed, the series highlights the
nutritional, social, political, cultural and economic transformations of food
around the globe. It features new scholarship that considers ever-intensifying
and accelerating tensions between tradition and innovation that characterize
the modern era. The editors are particularly committed to publishing
manuscripts featuring geographical areas currently underrepresented
in English-language academic publications, including the Global South,
particularly Africa and Asia, as well as monographs featuring indigenous
and under-represented groups, and non-western societies.
Published:
Rebellious Cooks and Recipe Writing in Communist Bulgaria,
Albena Shkodrova (2021)
Food and Aviation in the Twentieth Century: The Pan American Ideal,
Bryce Evans (2021)
Champagne in Britain, 1800–1914
How the British Transformed a French
Luxury
Graham Harding
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland
BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks
of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2022
Copyright © Graham Harding, 2022
Graham Harding has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. ix constitute an extension
of this copyright page.
Cover design: Terry Woodley
Cover image © ‘Champagne’, 19th century, Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet.
The Print Collector/Alamy Stock Photo
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publishers.
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for,
any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given
in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher
regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased
to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Harding, Graham, 1948- author.
Title: Champagne in Britain, 1800–1914 : how the British transformed a
French luxury / Graham Harding.
Description: London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. | Series: Food in modern history :
traditions and innovations | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021017223 (print) | LCCN 2021017224 (ebook) | ISBN 9781350202863 (HB) |
ISBN 9781350202870 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781350202887 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Champagne (Wine)–Marketing–Great Britain–History. | Advertising–Wine–
France–History. | Wine industry–France–Champagne-Ardennes–History.
Classification: LCC HF6161.W65 H37 2021 (print) | LCC HF6161.W65 (ebook) |
DDC 381/.45663224094109034–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017223
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017224
ISBN: HB: 978-1-3502-0286-3
ePDF: 978-1-3502-0287-0
eBook: 978-1-3502-0288-7
Series: Food in Modern History: Traditions and Innovations
Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd.
To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com
and sign up for our newsletters.
Contents
Figures vi
Tables viii
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations and short forms used xi
Glossary xii
1 Introduction 1
2 Framing the Market: Wine in Britain, 1800–1914 19
3 Champagne, 1800–60 49
4 ‘A Smart Agent and Lavish Expenditure’? The Distribution and
Marketing of Champagne, 1860–76 65
5 ‘Taste Changes Very Fast’: Consumers and Consumption, 1860–75 95
6 Votaries of Fashion? Changing Consumer Tastes, 1876–1914 123
7 ‘The Magic of Brand’: The Marketing and Branding of Champagne,
1876–1914 159
Conclusion: A Luxury Transformed 185
Notes 190
Bibliography 263
Index 286
Figures
1 Alcoholic drinks consumption per head, 1800–1909, compared to
population and national income 21
2 Advertisements for ‘spirits’, ‘wine’ and ‘beer and ale’ in the
British press, 1800–1909 22
3 Wine consumption by total volume and country of origin 27
4 Advertising for wine in the British press, 1800–69 28
5 Advertising in the Morning Post, 1800–99 29
6 Champagne and claret advertising, 1800–79 30
7 The mid-century view of wine merchants 34
8 Gilbey’s agent numbers 35
9 The Gilbey’s Business System 37
10 Gilbey’s wine sales, 1866–82 38
11 Wine shares by type in London’s West End, 1854–1904 39
12 Gilbey’s prices, 1859–99 41
13 Consumption of spirits, wine, beer and champagne,
1860–1914, indexed 44
14 References to ‘wine bar’ in the British press, 1850–99 46
15 Dinner party references in the British press, 1800–59 57
16 Champagne style – press references, 1800–59 60
17 The use of ‘brand’ in advertising 68
18 Branding of champagne advertisements in The Times, 1850–69 73
19 ‘Derby Day reserves’, 1878 88
20 Gilbey’s sales 1866–82 by sweeter/drier wine 117
21 Champagne and other sparkling wine sales, 1889–1904 125
22 Veuve Clicquot volume sales to the UK, 1860–1910 126
23 Premium brand names in champagne advertising, 1850–1914 126
24 Champagne pricing, 1875–1905 128
25 Veuve Clicquot volume sales and prices (indexed) 129
26 Punch cartoons, 1875–1913 137
27 The celebrations of the affluent’ or, ‘Our (Very) Friendly Societies’ 138
28 Champagne and corruption 139
29 Miss Bottleneck 144
Figures vii
30 Veuve Clicquot fancy dress 145
31 Social competition at the Central Hall, 1911 155
32 The terms ‘vintage champagne’ and ‘champagne vintage’ in
advertising 1860–1919 163
33 Gilbey’s ‘Celebrated Brands’ 169
34 London hospitality/dining venues, 1870–1914 172
35 Laurent-Perrier Sans Sucre, 1898 174
Tables
1 Champagne songs 103
2 Approximate price ladder 135
Acknowledgements
No one can write a book such as this without incurring multiple debts of
gratitude.
Inspirational history teachers at Colchester Royal Grammar School in the
1960s – particularly Peter Noll – showed how the past could come alive in the
hands of gifted writers. Hugh Brogan and Peter Linehan at St John’s College
Cambridge taught me to write and made sure I benefited from the best of
Cambridge historians: Simon Schama, Roy Porter and Quentin Skinner.
But then a professional career supervened. Twenty years working with Paul
Walton as a business partner taught me much about marketing and branding
(though we still argue about his passionate advocacy of heraldry as a precursor
to modern branding).
Coming back to history in 2010, I started to think about the branding of
wine, realized that James Simpson had written a far better book about this
than I ever could and went back to Cambridge to study the nineteenth-century
history of champagne. Peter Mandler, my supervisor there, and then Christina
de Bellaigue and William Whyte in Oxford helped me through first an M Phil
and then a D Phil.
My introduction to archives came with trips to the Diageo Archives at
Menstrie and the Gilbey Museum in Bishops Stortford. In Scotland, Joanne
McKerchar and Christine McCafferty enabled me to explore the riches of
the Gilbey material held by Diageo, while Sarah Turner in Essex helped by
transporting carloads of Gilbey papers for me to study in the Rhodes Museum.
Steve Charters, then at Reims Business School, spent some hours putting me
right about the champagne business and has been a constant source of help ever
since.
In Reims and Epernay I benefited from the help and hospitality of a number
of champagne houses. Prince Alain de Polignac introduced me to the letters of
Adolphe Hubinet (probably the greatest nineteenth-century agent of any house)
and allowed me to read them in his own room at Pommery. Since then Sofie
Landry-Vanhoe has dealt with subsidiary queries. At Pol Roger I was allowed the
run of the attics where the House’s still uncatalogued papers are stored. Matthieu
Blanc and Laurent d’Harcourt were not only helpful but hospitable – inviting me