Slideshow

Top 10 wines in Waitrose over £12

15 October 2014 By Tom Bruce Gardyne

Waitrose customers trade up to French wines, whatever the boss of parent company John Lewis may have said recently, as the UK supermarket’s most recent best-selling list proves.

Ken Mackay MW – Waitrose buying manager, wines

Waitrose will sell you a bottle of Château Yquem 2008 for £250, or even the 2009 Château Mouton Rothschild for £900, but that’s if you are buying online through waitrosecellar.com. In store, where “fine wine” is defined as “over £12”, things are a little more humble.

Compared to the UK off-trade where just 5% of wines sell above £10, Waitrose managed 11% for its £12+ wines according to Ken Mackay MW, buying manager for wine. The fact that France supplies seven of the top ten best-sellers among still wines, does not surprise him. “We have a big over-trade in France anyway, and the classic areas are growing very strongly,” said Mackay, who calls it “an historical area of strength and focus.”

He described the absence of red Burgundy on the list as: “a bit of a shame, because historically we’re very strong in Burgundy, but it’s not as relevant at the lower end of fine wine up to about £20 as it used to be.” Perhaps more surprising is the fact there’s just one wine from the New World – Catena Malbec from Argentina.

“We did a review in late 2012 when we had more from the New World. There are a lot of brilliant wines out there, but the comparative rate of sale was so much lower than the Old World,” Mackay explained. The New World selection has been pruned back accordingly.

Asked about Chilean wine, and its yearning to smash though the £10 barrier, he said: “Chile, for our customers, is most relevant below £10. We’ve got quite a few above that level, but they don’t sell out at the same rate.”

Click through to see Waitrose’s best-selling wines priced over £12 over the past 12 months…