Vineyards are meeting next week to agree on a big cut in production, guaranteeing that   prices will stay elevated in this economic climate when sales have fallen.  Can you believe that half the grapes in Champagne may be left to wither on the vine?  Perish the thought!  This will ensure that champagne goes on being our favourite luxury item, at the same elevated prices.  Of course, the vineyards don't want to see prices fall.  Heaven forbid!, that we should drink Bollinger at the price of Cava.

It seems that demand slumped from 338 million bottles in '07 to 322million in '08.  The prediction for this year is 270 million.  The decline has taken place mainly in Britain and the US as we tighten our belts.  I personally haven't seen many champagne corks fly this past year.  I used to take a bottle of bubbly when invited to a dinner, especially if I knew I wouldn't have a chance to return the favour.  Now I take box of Ladurée chocolates, from their shop at Harrods, which are still a treat, but a much cheaper option, say £25 instead of £34.

There are now miles of unsold shelves of champagne sitting in caves in Epernay, near Reims, in Northern France.  I once toured the Pommery caves there.  We rode in small golf carts, like those at airports, through kilometres of stacks of champagne.  There are 12 billion bottles in stock and many more to go onto these shelves this season.

However, if you're looking forward to a price collapse, dream on!  Even if it means abandoning 50% of this year's grapes, c'est la vie. Taiittinger and famous houses like Moet would suffer a catastrophe if the prices fell.  They say they would be working for nothing.

"Champagne is the drink of dreams and of parties," writes Mr. Le Brun in the trade magazine, La Champagne Viticole. "Its image and its universe are endangered when the term ‘crisis' is associated too often with it."

So it looks like we won't be profiting from the drop in demand for the elixir of dreams.  As they say, dream on!