(Wine-Searcher) - Life's a gas for bubbly producers as thirsty international markets drive sales through the roof.

Champagne exports hit a new record last year, with new markets making up for a disappointing result in one of the region's traditional strongholds.

Poor sales in the UK were attributed to a post-Brexit tightening of household purse strings and a devalued currency, but Asia helped producers forget about the gloomy British picture.

Over the weekend, the Comité Champagne released its 2017 sales figures at Prowein. There was much reason to celebrate as the 2017 sales value soared to €4.9 billion ($6bn), breaking the 2015 record of €4.74bn. The total volume, at 307.3 million bottles, was up by 1.2m bottles compared to last year (306.1m bottles) but remained well below the 2015 volume level of 312.6m bottles.