Sparkling wine sales in Britain: the facts

Sparkling wine sales in the UK reached over £1 billion for the first time in 2015. We look at the facts and figures for this growing category.

The sparkling wine category (excluding Champagne) is worth £1,057,000,000 in the UK

According to the latest statistics from the WSTA, more than two thirds of sparkling wine sales by value go through Britain’s retailers, and almost 90% by volume, although the category is growing fastest in the on-trade.

Indeed, while sparkling wine sales are rising at a rate of 20% year-on-year in the off-trade, British bars, pubs and clubs are enjoying a sales increase approaching 50%, annually.

In pubs alone sparkling wine’s contribution has seen explosive growth of 270%, worth £95 million, since 2011.

The sparkling wine category includes English sparkling wine, Prosecco and Cava as well as fizz from other countries.

Champagne sales are monitored separately, and the WSTA point out that more sparkling wine is sold in the UK than Champagne.

Currently, 8 out of 10 bottles or 83% of fizz sold is sparkling wine, while in value terms, sparkling wine makes up 58% of the category, or £3 out of every £5 spent on bubbles.

Driving the growth in sparkling wine sales in the UK is Prosecco, which now accounts for 400,000 hectolitres in the UK off-trade (over half the sparkling retail market), which was worth £330m in sales in 2015 (almost 50% of the sparkling wine sector).

Over the following pages are some of the key facts and figures regarding the sparkling wine category in the UK.

The sparkling wine category (excluding Champagne) is worth £1,057,000,000 in the UK (on- and off-trade, last 12 months to January).

£709m was sold in UK retailers, which represents 67% of the total sparkling wine market by value.

This represents 779,000 hl, which is 89% of the market by volume.

£348m was sold in bars and restaurants (which is 33% of the market)

This represents 100,000 hl (which is 11% of the market).

The off-trade sparkling wine market is increasing slightly more in value than volume – growing at 22% year-on-year in value and 21% in volume.

The average price of a bottle of sparkling wine in the UK off-trade is £9.10.

It is estimated by the WSTA that by the end of 2016, around 800,000 hectolitres (106.7m bottles) will have been sold through UK retailers, compared to the 441,000 hl that were sold in 2012.

This represents a doubling of the sparkling wine market in four years.

In contrast to the off-trade, the on-trade sparkling wine market is increasing more in volume than value – growing at 44% year-on-year in value and 49% in volume.

The average price of a bottle of sparkling wine in the UK on-trade is £34.96.

Finally, the following table shows the evolution in volume and value of sparkling wine sales in the UK off-trade since 2012, and forecasted market sizes based on current growth rates.

Data source: WSTA