Hattingley Valley is first English winery to secure Swedish monopoly listing

Hattingley Valley has secured a set listing with Sweden’s state-run alcohol monopoly, Systembolaget, following a competitive tender consisting of a blind tasting against 14 other English wine brands.

The brand’s Classic Reserve NV will be available in more than 100 stores across the country from 1 December 2023, distributed through Wicked Wines Sweden.

The new listing marks the twelfth export market for Hattingley Valley and the second Nordic market to take the brand. It has been available in Norway since 2015 and is one of Hattingley Valley’s biggest markets with six expressions exported.

Norway alone is responsible for 25% of exports of English and Welsh wines. Domestic sales continue to dominate for British wines, with exports responsible for just 7% of total wine sales in 2022, but the proportion is growing, led predominantly by these Scandinavian markets.

Chris Unger, sales and marketing director at Hattingley Valley, said that for the Hampshire-based winery, exports make up 25-30% of sales. “The demand for English wines is growing globally,” he said. “We are delighted to be flying the flag for English wines in Sweden.”

As the drinks business reported in July, WineGB is also seeing growing demand from other Scandinavian countries, “with requests from Swedish and Finnish buyers to show our wines in their markets,” Ned Awty, former interim CEO of WineGB said.

Mattias Eriksson, product manager wine & spirits AB at Wicked Wine Sweden said: “It’s a very exciting time for Hattingley Valley as the brand enters the Swedish market with a set listing guaranteeing an agreed level of distribution across stores. We’re looking forward to consumers discovering the multi-award-winning Classic Reserve. We are confident the brand will enjoy the same success it does in Norway and are excited to be on this journey with Hattingley Valley.”