Dan Murphy’s limits Champagne sales and allocates Dom Perignon to high-trading suburbs

Dom Perignon is being rationed as supply shortages bite, which could cause embarrassment for party hosts in Sydney’s well-heeled eastern suburbs

Dan Murphy's is running dangerously low in Dom Perignon and has been forced to allocate remaining stock to ‘high-trading Champagne’ suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne.

Australians in some of the nation’s most exclusive suburbs are facing a Christmas tragedy – the prospect of rationing Dom Perignon as supplies of the luxury French champagne run low amid global shipping delays and more general shortages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dan Murphy’s, the country’s biggest liquor retailer, has been forced to place some buying limits on particular champagnes heading into Christmas, and scarce supplies of Dom Perignon – which can retail for more than $300 a bottle – are being redirected to high-buying champagne suburbs within the company’s store network.

In Sydney this includes stores in the eastern and northern suburbs such as Double Bay, Mosman and Willoughby, while in Melbourne, the south and southeast such as Brighton and Prahran are being prioritised with Dom Perignon to alleviate any panic over Dom supplies.

It is believed that Endeavour Group, the company that owns Dan Murphy’s as well as liquor outlet BWS, has almost exhausted its supply of Dom Perignon and is also close to out of stock of Billecart-Salmon champagne as the pandemic causes massive upheaval across global supply chains.

The champagne supply bottleneck is not unique to Dan Murphy’s, with local distributors of Dom Perignon in Australia desperately awaiting new shipments from France, and while other champagnes are plentiful – as well as Australian sparkling wine – for those lovers of Dom it could be a long and lonely summer.

The shortage of champagne follows last week’s revelations that the country’s two biggest brewers, Carlton & United Breweries and Lion, had been forced to impose their own buying limits on bottle shops and liquor stores, while a lack of available pallets had caused Lion to temporarily halt the production of some beers to ensure it had enough pallets for other beer brands.

Supply constraints caused by global demand for premium champagne, lower than usual production levels and vintages in France and the logistical challenges across the supply chain have conspired to leave some shelves empty at liquor stores.

The latest allocation of Dom Perignon went out to Dan Murphy’s stores last week, and at present the lack of stock for some Dom Perignon products is temporary, as new allocations reach shelves.

A spokesman for Endeavour told The Australian limits were in place on some imported products at present.

“This includes some imported champagnes such as Dom Perignon and Billecart-Salmon. This is due to global supply constraints caused by global demand for premium champagne, lower than usual production levels and the logistical challenges across the supply chain,” he said.

“To manage this, we’re allocating these products across our stores, prioritising our high-trading champagne stores.”

The spokesman added that Dan Murphy’s had about 150 champagnes available in stores plus an even larger range of more than 400 sparkling wines.

“So if a customer temporarily can’t find their favourite imported drink, we’re confident they’ll be able to find suitable alternatives in our stores.”

John Noble, of the Champagne Bureau, which represents the Comité Champagne in Australia, said recent smaller vintages in Champagne, France, as well as the continued high demand for champagne in Australia had placed stress on supply.

In 2020, champagne exports to Australia recorded growth of 11.2 per cent, reaching 8.5 million bottles to mark the biggest growth in that year among champagne’s leading international markets. Indeed 2020, the first year of the pandemic, marked the second best year in the history of champagne exports to Australia to help propel Australia from the 10th to the 7th biggest champagne market by value in the world.