Recent sales figures released by The Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) show that sparkling wine sales have increased significantly over the past few years, with around 26 million bottles sold in 2019 alone.
This is a healthy increase of 9% over the previous year. Champagne appears to be losing favour with drinkers, as sales of the famous French wine were down by 5% in 2019. Overall, the increase in sales in pubs, shops and restaurants has risen by 61% over the past five years, with the trend looking to continue.
Sparkling wines such as Prosecco are growing in popularity, and English sparkling wines are also enjoying an increase in their market share. The WSTA puts this down to wine drinkers becoming much more adventurous and willing to try alternatives to traditional French sparkling wines, such as champagne. Pub group, JD Wetherspoon, have swapped all their usual champagne stocks for English sparkling wine across the whole estate, in response to customer demand.
Theresa Villiers, Environment Secretary, said of the increase in English sparkling wine:
“Last year was a bumper year for the industry and proves that British producers have the knowledge and ingenuity to compete on the international wine market with our fantastic home-grown produce. I look forward to seeing what 2020 has in store for this innovative and exciting industry.”
Whether you choose to fill your engraved crystal champagne flutes with French champagne, Italian Prosecco or English sparkling wine, there’s nothing quite like a lovely chilled glass of fizz.