The UAE is now a top ten Champagne market

Ben Kouider on bringing grower champagnes to Dubai

“In Champagne they were saying they weren’t interested in selling to Dubai. And in Dubai they said they weren’t interested in grower Champagne. So you end up being an ambassador for both sides!”

Ben Kouider, also known as @benchampagnes on instagram

I’d hazard a guess that the United Arab Emirates would not feature on many people’s lists for the top ten global champagne markets. But, in 2024, it made it: 3,447,000 bottles were shipped, overtaking Sweden into a position ripe, as long time Dubai resident Ben Kouider sees it, for some diversification.

“The houses have a very good presence here - LVMH, and then Laurent-Perrier, Roederer, Bollinger, Taittinger. But every restaurant had the same list!”, he recalls. As a native Frenchman with a strong connection to France’s classic vineyard regions, fifteen years living in Dubai working in the oil and gas industries - and an in-depth familiarity with the booming fine dining scene - Kouider began thinking about bringing in independent champagnes in 2019 through a new company, Champavin.

It wasn’t just the attitudes on both sides of the wire that posed problems - even setting up a French company to export to Dubai proved problematic. “I tried to open my company in Reims. You can’t imagine the problems I had! I needed a bank account, and nobody wanted to open a bank account to deal with Champagne in Dubai.” After eventually opting to found the company in London, Kouider began bringing in a few growers and, crucially, working hard to educate a restaurant scene unfamiliar with independent champagnes. “Sommeliers here come from all over the world - there are a lot from Italy, Australia, the UK and France. And some from Russia now, since the war. Champagne is one of the most complex vignobles in the world, but they learn fast!”, he says.

High flyers

It’s clear that Dubai - which is 75% of the UAE market, followed by the other Emirates - is a very different beast to any of the other top 10 markets. The wealth of the ex-pat community, which is 91% of the population, means the Champagne sold is often high-end: “The average price paid in Champagne for the bottles sold here is here €28.8, compared to €21.55 in the UK or €19.30 in Sweden”, Kouider points out. Vintage Champagnes from the major houses, though, often show best with further ageing, and the fine dining scene is not structured around grand cellars and back vintages aged on the property as it might be in longer-established areas. “Sometimes people feel there is a lack of quality in the houses at this level, but they don’t understand they have to age it”, he says. It’s an opportunity, he feels, for grower champagnes that can open up a little faster.

Kouider is a long way from the sort of importer that pits their wines against the houses, though, and actually advocates against restaurants de-listing Grande Marque champagnes in favour of his wines, believing the two can benefit each other: “It’s hard to sell an unknown name by the bottle”, he says. “The best way is by putting the growers on by the glass.”

Champavin remains the only serious importer of grower champagnes, and the roster is accordingly impressive; Ulysse Collin, Roses de Jeanne, Suenen, Savart, Chartogne-Taillet and Jérôme Prevost are just a few of the names that would make an unusually star-studded list in any country, such as the UK, with more competition. With quantities of these wines constantly miniscule, Champavin also represents the likes of Henri Giraud, Vilmart & Cie and Larmandier-Bernier, small houses and sizeable growers able to commit to more stable supplies, too. “Most of the growers give me the allocation I want”, he says. “For now it’s just me, full time, and three employees, with 40 different producers and around 50,000 bottles. It’s just champagne - although this might change”.

Feeling the heat

Dubai may not be known for its taxes, but wine importers are having to adjust to the end of a two year honeymoon period of zero import taxes. “They hoped, by removing the tax, that the on-trade would lower their prices. But most people just put it in their pockets. So the tax is back, and I think it will slow things down a lot - it’s like putting on a handbrake.” Kouider thinks that “Prestige Cuvées will take a hit”, but that Dubai’s already higher-than average spend will offer some protection.

It’s not just the clientele, but the climate, that marks out Dubai from its other top 10 neighbours. Bottle condition is a constant Champagne-geek conversation topic, and those of us who get to taste with independent producers in Champagne often seem to find that the wines that reach us in our home markets - even in temperate countries - are not always in top condition. “I have to take drastic measures to control the supply chain because of the heat. I ship on cooled containers and then go straight into a 16C storage at the port…it took some time to get it smooth, but when the growers come they’re surprised by how good it tastes here”.

With a climate like Dubai’s, and a number of wines such as those from Chavost and Marguet with ultra-low or zero sulphites arriving, the risk is high - an hour at 40C can kill a wine. Ironically, more temperate climates tend to take a more lax approach; fine 95% of the time, but not fine for those few 35 degree days when your case gets stuck in a lorry for 8 hours.

The future

“I think we can rise a few more places - not top five, but eight or nine”, Kouider believes. The growth, especially against a general picture of declining champagne sales since 2023, is striking:

Champagnes sales to UAE:

2000 - 267000 bottles

2010 - 1,172,000 bottles

2017 - 2,000,000 bottles

2020 - 635000

2023 2,800,000 bottles

2024 3,447,000 bottles

In terms of the numbers, grower and independent champagne is just a small part of the story (as it is in general). But the UAE’s growth is a reminder that scenes - scenes of buyers, importers, sommeliers and ultimately drinkers - can be shaped and cultivated over time, and that people such as Kouider are doing the region as a whole a favour by hitting the road with bottles in hand.