Yes, Champagne Deserves Its Own Netflix Rom-Com

Champagne hardly needs any advertisement during the holiday season, but it nonetheless arrives in the form of Netflix’s new rom-com Champagne Problems.

“Champagne isn’t just a drink, it’s a celebration,” begins the voiceover on the opening sequence, which goes on to describe what makes “a sparkling wine from a tiny region in France so special.” Aside from being an effervescent rom-com romp, the film gives surprising care to its subject matter and setting, underscoring some of the real challenges facing winemakers in Champagne and throughout France.

At a time when the wine industry needs help connecting to a wider audience, Champagne Problems—now the number one film on Netflix—is bubbly in all the right ways.

A Real Champagne Problem

Just as Champagne follows a specific procedure, so, too, do holiday romance movies of the Hallmark variety: an ambitious, overworked, urban-dwelling woman is deposited into a bucolic setting, where she proceeds to fall in love with a humble local.

In Champagne Problems, financial executive Sydney Price (played by Minka Kelly) ventures to Champagne to potentially buy a struggling legacy Champagne house, the fictional Château Cassell. She meets Henri Cassell (played by Tom Wozniczka, also of wine-themed Drops of God stardom), the wayward son of the brand’s owner Hugo Cassell, who doesn’t want to take over the family business, but doesn’t want to see it sold off to an entity that may sacrifice the quality and eschew tradition.

The premise here is actually realistic, which is more than we can say of most holiday rom-coms. “This is absolutely relatable,” says Brice Bezin, cellar master of Champagne Telmont. “Many historic Champagne houses are navigating a similar crossroads—how to honor a century of savoir-faire without compromising under short-term financial pressures.”

This trend isn’t necessarily new. Beginning in the 1980s, tax laws went into effect that made it more financially attractive for wine brands to acquire new corporate ownership rather than pass their assets on to the next generation. Staying in its holiday lane, the film doesn’t mire itself in the adversity, but Hugo and Henri are respectively wistful and guilt-ridden in turn about potentially selling the house to a third party.

“We deeply appreciate when Champagne is represented accurately in mainstream media,” says Lori Russo, the director of the Bureau de Champagne, USA. (She is especially pleased that the story emphasizes that Champagne can only come from Champagne, France.) “Many Americans recognize Champagne as a symbol of celebration and pleasure but may not be as familiar with the region’s history, its resilience, the families behind the wines, and the generations of savoir faire that make Champagne distinctive and singular among the world’s sparkling wines.”

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Filmed entirely within the region (besides the Paris locations in the early part of the story), the film also shows Champagne and the city of Épernay to full advantage. While Château Cassell is fictional, its setting is not: the Château exterior is that of Château Comtesse Lafond, its spires and vines snow-capped and sparkling throughout, and the vineyards and cellar are the real deal. A “maison” may be more representative of Champagne, but an actual Château is basically required for the holiday movie canon.

Actual footage of Épernay’s annual festival of lights, Habits de Lumière, is also used in the film, making an excellent case for itself as a European holiday destination to rival Bavaria. It must also be said that the Château’s dog—an adorable West Highland White Terrier named Bulles (“Bubbles”)—is doing superb work to represent charming winery dogs as a whole.

Champagne Problems. (L-R) Sean Amsing as Roberto Salazar, Flula Borg as Otto Moller, Minka Kelly as Sydney Price, Tom Wozniczka as Henri Cassell, Thibault De Montalembert as Hugo Cassell and Astrid Whettnall as Brigitte Laurent in Champagne Problems. — (L-R) Sean Amsing as Roberto Salazar, Flula Borg as Otto Moller, Minka Kelly as Sydney Price, Tom Wozniczka as Henri Cassell, Thibault De Montalembert as Hugo Cassell and Astrid Whettnall as Brigitte Laurent in Champagne Problems. Photo by Mika Cotellon/Netflix © 2025.

Lessons in Champagne Chemistry

Less realistic, though entirely on-theme for a holiday rom-com, is the notion that the struggling château’s winemaker would then invite four prospective buyers for an impromptu weekend getaway together in said château in order to prove themselves worthy of taking it on. The move is straight out of Willy Wonka’s playbook, but it makes for some amusing and gentle Champagne education.

Along with Sydney, three other characters are vying for the deal: Brigitte Laurent of French wine brand Terrebonne (no apparent connection to the actual Provençal winery of the same name), Otto Moller of fictional German exporter Weingut, and billionaire party boy Roberto Salazar who has no business acumen but simply loves the brand and shares the Cassell family’s concern that the wrong buyer would ruin it, thereby crashing his proverbial party. “[Château Cassell Grand Cru] turns my troubles into bubbles,” he says. The improbable buddy duo of Otto and Roberto provide much of the delightful fizz of the film, the necessary “com” to Sydney and Henri’s “rom.”

The group’s visit involves challenges such as blind tasting, vine pruning, and a riddling race, but all of these serve as effective mini-lessons about the nature of Champagne, with details that are accessible for those who are just in it for the holiday flick, and with just enough nuance to appease those in the know. A number of Champagne brands, in addition to Comtesse Lafond, are given thanks in the credits, including Maison Moët, with Dom Perignon’s winemaker Jean-Baptiste Terlay called out by name, Champagne JM Gobillard, Champagne Mme Claude Mareigner, Champagne Grivot-Papleux, and Champagne Boizel.

Champagne Problems. Minka Kelly as Sydney Price in Champagne Problems. Photo by Mika Cotellon/Netflix © 2025.

For example, Hugo explains the importance of pruning, as the gang takes to the snowy vineyard. “Do it wrong, and rot and insects will find a way into the vines. Do it correctly, and they will flourish for decades.”

“I feel like I’m freeing the vines. At first they were afraid, they were petrified, and now I’m circumcising them,” Otto remarks while enthusiastically going at it with the shears. It’s a hilarious moment that a stereotypically brutalist German character seems especially jazzed for the task at hand, but it doesn’t feel accidental to have appropriated the lyrics from “I Will Survive” to an activity that actually plays an essential role in vine survival.

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“It’s maybe one of the most crucial jobs you can do in Champagne, especially in the winter,” says Master Sommelier Stefan Neumann. “Pruning has a massive impact on yields, has a massive impact on the flowering period, which means you’re less exposed to frost, which has always been a big enemy in Champagne.”

Even small details, such as the glasses used throughout, are Champagne-appropriate. Nary an overfilled, straight-sided flute is to be found, instead favoring at least the look of the Champagne-specific glassware developed by Reims-based glassmaker Lehmann. “This is the best glass for Champagne,” says sommelier Baptiste Beaumard of New York’s Restaurant Daniel. “It doesn’t close off Champagne’s aromatics, but it also appears like a flute for people who prefer a flute, and in my experience, most do.”

The film even manages to drop in a timely bit about tariffs, while still keeping it light. “Look how rapidly your bottles move through the economy as if gravity, i.e. tariffs, don’t exist,” says Otto, during an animated presentation he gives to Hugo as to why his company is best poised to take over. I would pay money for this character to give me a tour of the Mosel.

Champagne Problems. (L-R) Thibault De Montalembert as Hugo Cassell and Astrid Whettnall as Brigitte Laurent in Champagne Problems — (L-R) Thibault De Montalembert as Hugo Cassell and Astrid Whettnall as Brigitte Laurent in Champagne Problems. Photo by Mika Cotellon/Netflix © 2025.

Poetic License—for a Good Cause

Naturally, Champagne Problems isn’t without the kind of gaffes that would make an oenophile chuckle, with some liberties taken in the name of moviemaking. Sydney botches the pronunciation of “Perignon” in the opening voiceover, admittedly a mouthful for many Americans. (Taylor Swift had the same Champagne problem in her song of the same title.) Kudos to Minka Kelly, however, as the only actor in the film to consistently hold their wine glass by the stem.

The depiction of Dom Perignon in the same opening sequence has the monk seemingly creating carbonation in an open glass flask. “In Champagne, the second fermentation must occur in a sealed bottle,” says Bezin, the region’s very hallmark. Sabering also gets a bit of an odd treatment in a couple of scenes.

Small inaccuracies aside, enjoyment of the film is not unlike enjoyment of Champagne itself. You can go deep with the how and why of it all, or you can merely enjoy it for what it is: refreshing, effervescent, and perfect for the holidays. More importantly, it shines a spotlight on a beloved wine region, which, like many regions in today’s volatile wine market, can certainly use all the extra sparkle it can get.