The Champagne Rush on New Year’s Eve
That’s right, it’s countdown time again and to ring in the New Year, lots of people are looking for a bottle of their favorite champagne. From affordable to pricey, there’s something in the wine rack for everyone. News Five’s Isani Cayetano visited several liquor stores where dozens of shoppers were standing in line to grab a bottle of bubbly.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Since the shopping season began in mid-November, the demand for wines and spirits has been constant. Across the city, various businesses, including MADISCO and Karl H. Menzies have been retailing hundreds of bottles of champagnes, wines and hard liquor to meet the insatiable appetite of consumers. At Premium Wines and Spirits, the trickle of buyers has been steady.
Mike Bardalez
Mike Bardalez, Sales and Marketing, Premium Wines & Spirits
“December has been definitely good. We have our consumers that usually come and shop for the regular wines that we have, but we also do a bunch of promotion sales which is a monthly sale and it has been good, you know, we basically cater from the economy side to the ones that we have, really expensive brands. So we basically cater to everyone that comes to the store.”
Isani Cayetano
“Today is New Year’s Eve, I gather that people are coming in and out of the store purchasing wines and champagnes to pop their toast and usher in 2022. What has that been like?”
Mike Bardalez
“Pretty good, at the moment we do have our, one of the brands that we carry is the Grandial from Spain and that has been our economy brand. So we have seen a lot of that in sales right now.”
At MADISCO, foot traffic has also been frequent. According to Beverage Coordinator Cheyenne Miller, this year has been better than the last in terms of sales. More customers are purchasing for private consumption, amid the pandemic.
Cheyenne Miller, Beverage Coordinator, MADISCO
“I guess it’s because of the pandemic, everyone is trying to stay home. So they are becoming more familiar with the different wines we carry and now that the New Year is here, everyone is in to get their sparkling wine, a wide variety. We have had a lot of foot traffic, a lot of new customers from around Belize City. I can say that they are just trying to stay away from outside. So they are here to see what varietals we have in the wines and in spirits, so it has been a really good month for us.”
Cheyenne Miller
Perhaps the fastest selling bottle of chardonnay is Lamont. It’s made from handpicked fruit sourced from Margaret River. This outstanding wine is best served only slightly chilled.
Mike Bardalez
“We have our main brand which is the Lamont which is a French sweet wine that has been one of our staples for the past year and we have other items that are definitely, that will be on sale but we have something new for January. As sparkling wine, we have our brand such as Taittinger, it’s around a hundred and fifty dollar range and we have a couple purchases of those, definitely. So people have purchased those for this week.”
Indeed, sparkling wines are moving off the shelves rather quickly. At midnight tonight, many will be proposing a toast and the ideal beverage for the occasion is a bottle of champagne.
Cheyenne Miller
“I’ll say the sparkling because of the time of the year. So they are here to get the sparkling wine and we have a wide variety. We have the ones to cater for big house members or so, and small, just two or three members in a household. So they are more after the sparkling, I know when it was the Christmas Season they were more going for red wines that could actually suit the table setting which is with the ham and rice and beans, but since the start of this week, they are going for their champagnes.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
