South Africa leapfrogs French wines in UK off-trade

Sales of South African wines have overtaken those of France in the UK off-trade for the first time.

The latest figures from Nielsen show South African wine sales in retail outlets grew 20% by volume to 12,270,000 9L cases – volume MAT to 23.01.10 – compared to France’s decline of 12% over the same period to 12,266,00 cases.

This now makes South Africa the fourth-largest selling country for wine in the UK.

Jo Mason, UK market manager at Wines of South Africa, told the drinks business: “We expect to see a continued upward trend.

“This achievement has coincided with a year where South Africa is thrust into the spotlight, as host nation for the FIFA World Cup, which should ensure continued success for our wines.”

The added interest in the country’s wines and the football means “a lot of retailers have got a focus on South Africa,” continued Mason.

The competition has come at an opportune time South African wines, which have seen two years of strong growth in the UK, with its market share growing from 10.4% at the end of 2008 to 12.3% by the end of last year.

Mason also said that the diversity of South African wines was the key to its performance, rather than any one particular style of wine.

"The sheer variety of wines from South Africa are its great strength, along with solid brand positions and the quality to value ratio ramping up over the past few years," she said.

Rupert Millar, 22.02.2010