“Champagne Experience”, the bond between Italy and Champagne (also at table) under the spotlights

Champagne, after a few years in which even the “king” of the world sparkling wines (at least in terms of value, with the region wine industry “generating” 5.7 billion euros in revenue) faced challenges, is showing positive signs once again. In the first half of 2026, according to data from the Comité Champagne, shipments from Champagne houses returned to growth, rising 1.2% to 107.1 million bottles. A significant share of these bottles was destined for Italy, which has consistently ranked among Champagne leading markets for years. In 2025, Italy was the sixth-largest market by volume, with 7.8 million bottles imported, and the fifth by value, at 210 million euros, according to Comité Champagne figures.
The bond between Champagne and Italy is both strong and historic. While many of the pioneers of Italian sparkling wine production, from Franco Ziliani in Franciacorta to Carlo Gancia in Canelli as early as the nineteenth century, and Giulio Ferrari in Trentodoc, looked to Champagne for inspiration and study before embarking on their own successful journeys, today many Italian wineries also distribute Champagne, including Ceretto, Gaja, Terlano, Allegrini, Marchesi di Barolo, Antinori, Masciarelli, Marilisa Allegrini, Famiglia Cecchi, Banfi, and Rocca delle Macìe. Alongside them, there are Italian wine distributors, such as the 21 members of Excellence Sidi, ranging from Compagnia del Vino and Cuzziol Grandivini to Gruppo Meregalli, Pellegrini, Sagna, Visconti 43, Sarzi Amadè, and Terroir Ceretto, just to name a few of them. Recently, the association elected Guido Folonari, formerly at the helm of Philarmonica, as its president. On October 4th and 5th, it will stage the edition No. 9 of “Champagne Experience” at BolognaFiere, the most important Italian and European event dedicated to French sparkling wines. The edition of this year comes at a particularly significant time for the Champagne region, which, like many wine-growing areas in Italy and across Europe, experienced its earliest harvest ever due to extreme heat. Nevertheless, the vintage is considered to be of excellent quality, despite very low yields, partly the result of decisions made by the industry itself to rebalance supply and demand.
The event will feature 125 Champagne houses and small growers, with tastings organized by geographic area reflecting the region main production districts: Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Côte des Blancs, and Côte des Bar. Traditional Champagne houses will be grouped in a dedicated area. BolognaFiere, reinforcing its role as a key meeting point for HoReCa professionals, importers, distributors, producers, and enthusiasts, will provide a larger exhibition space capable of welcoming the thousands of expected visitors and delivering an even more complete and functional experience.
The event, which WineNews has followed for years, transforms Bologna, the “City of the Two Towers” into Italy Champagne capital. It will also highlight Champagne remarkable versatility as a gastronomic wine. Alongside the opportunity to taste hundreds of expressions of France finest sparkling wines, “Champagne Experience” will offer a food journey in which Champagne meets products that tell stories of territories, traditions, and culinary cultures. This dialogue between wine and gastronomy will be celebrated above all through the event masterclasses, starting with those dedicated to pairing Champagne with different aging profiles of Parmigiano Reggiano. The Consortium, a long-standing partner of the event, describes the initiative as “a renewed dialogue between two internationally recognized excellences, united by a long tradition, a deep connection to their territories, and an extraordinary ability to express complexity and nuances”. Other masterclasses will focus on pairings between Champagne and 24K Riserva Oro, the premium salmon produced by Parma-based company FoodLab, as well as cured meats from Coati. Visitors will also have the opportunity to compare Champagne with Emilia-Romagna own sparkling wines, led of course by Lambrusco, thanks to the participation of the Consorzio del Lambrusco and the Consorzio Emilia-Romagna, both partners of the event alongside the Emilia-Romagna regional government.
An event which celebrates the value of a region and a wine which has become a global icon since its origins. Champagne is among the few wines in the world to which an inventor has traditionally been attributed: the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon, at the Abbey of Hautvillers near Épernay, the “capital” of the famous region in eastern France. Champagne accounts for only 8% of the country vineyard area under Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée status, yet generates 51% of its total value. Its 35,000 hectares (considered the most valuable vineyards per hectare in the world), spread across 319 villages (as WineNews has explained in a video reportage in some of the most famous transalpine maisons, from Joseph Perrier to Dom Pérignon, Moët & Chandon - about which we recently interviewed Chef de cave Benoît Gouez - Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot, all “jewels of Lvmh, from Perrier-Jouët to Pommery, from Louis Roederer to Deutz).
Champagne remains one of wine enduring myths in a rapidly changing world, thanks also to a creativity that knows no bounds. Through exclusive partnerships extending beyond restaurants and luxury hospitality to collaborations with international celebrities, as well as connections with art, fashion, music, sport (as in Formula 1, at the last Grand Prix of Italy in Monza, where we were present too), cinema, and more, Champagne has built a marketing strategy which set the standard for the industry. Even in responding to the global decline in wine consumption, it has continued to raise the bar in communication and investment. After all, as Napoleon, perhaps history greatest admirer of French sparkling wine, famously said: “In victory, you deserve Champagne; in defeat, you need it”.