Sparkling sales continue to fizz in the UK

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 14 February, 2018

Sales of sparkling grew by 6% in volume and 9% in value in the off-trade last year, showing the popularity of the category continues to rise.

Sales of fizz in the UK have enjoyed rapid growth in the last five years with volume sales up 89% and up 206% by value.

Although growth is now slowing and is no longer in double-digits, more sparkling wine was sold in the UK last year than any previous year.

The figures, from the WSTA’s upcoming market report, show that over 120 million bottles of fizz were sold in British shops and supermarkets in 2017 (Jan-Dec), worth over £850 million.

For the 12 months to September 2017, the combined number of fizz bottles sold in the UK on and off-trades totalled 140 million.

When the sales figures for the last three months of 2017 are available for the on-trade, the WSTA expects the total combined amount to exceed the 140 million sold in the 12 months to September.

Prosecco accounts for the lion’s share of the sparkling wine sales in the UK with Brits expected to have bought around 85 million bottles in the UK last year, according to IWSR.

The uplift in sparkling sales has also extended to English wine with the likes of which Marks and Spencer confirming a 15% rise in sales of English sparkling wine sales last year.

“We have seen sales of English sparkling wine go from strength to strength at M&S over the past few years and we currently sell 17 English sparkling wines across our stores,” Liz Williams from Marks and Spencer said.

As well as a rise of 15% in sparkling sales, Williams said, “English sparkling rose has also been doing well, with a year on year increase of around 10% across our English pink fizz range.”

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