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Wine sales rocket at Royal Ascot

Over 17,500 bottles of French wine and over 14,000 bottles of Italian wine were consumed by the nearly 300,000 visitors to the five-day event.

Sales of rosé were up 15%, red wine 13% and white 7% compared to 2018.

South African wine volumes showed the greatest growth year on year, up 42%, with wines from Italy up 29%.

Howard Corrigan, Hallgarten & Novum’s national account manager, said: “Royal Ascot has once again been a fantastic event for all involved.

“This year we have seen demand from customers for all areas of our portfolio: Gérard Bertrand in Languedoc-Roussillon, Michele Chiarlo in Piedmont, Berton Vineyard in South Australia, Saint Clair in Marlborough and Swartland Winery in South Africa, were all highly sought-after, in all enclosures.”

In addition to supplying all bars and private boxes, Hallgarten worked alongside Royal Ascot’s illustrious Michelin-Starred chefs to create wine lists paired to their fine-dining offering. Each restaurant, including those headed-up by Raymond Blanc OBE, Simon Rogan, Eric Lanlard, Ollie Dabbous and Philip Howard, hand-picked wines from the Hallgarten portfolio to pair with their bespoke menus for the guests in the Royal and Queen Anne Enclosures.

Jonathan Parker, director of food and beverage for Ascot, said: “Royal Ascot week is always a step-up in terms of volume, as we supply wine to over 200 boxes, 100 bars and 20 restaurants at Royal Ascot 2019.

“To meet the demand from almost 300,000 guests, the Ascot Racecourse team have eight wine cellars at their disposal, with around 20,000 bottles in each at any one time.”

In addition to supplying wines to all the bars, fine-dining restaurants and private boxes, Hallgarten also trained 1,126 members of the front-of-house teams on the two days prior to the event. The training was led by Beverly Tabbron MW.

• wine
• South Africa
• Royal Ascot
• Hallgarten & Novum