Rosé sales to lead growth in UK

Published: 14 January, 2009

Rosé sales will be the powerhouse in the UK wine market over the next five years, according to research commissioned by Vinexpo.

Research company IWSR predicts that, although growth will slow markedly, consumption of rosé wine will rise by more than 47%, from 150 million bottles to 220 million bottles a year.

Wine consumption grew more than 12% in the five years from 2003 to 2007 and is forecast to continue growing over the next five years, but at a much slower rate of just over 6%.

A Vinexpo spokesman said: "In 2008 we were estimated to have drunk more than 764 million bottles of white wine in Britain - that number is forecast to rise to 823 million over the next five years.

"Consumption of red wine is forecast to fall from 720 million bottles last year to 687 million in 2012."

The UK is still only 13th in the ranking of world consumption per head and that position is unlikely to change over the next five years.

The top five wine consumers are France (58.8 litres per head), Italy (56.4 litres), Switzerland (49.2 litres), Portugal (44.9 litres) and Austria (42.2 litres).

Most of these countries are expected to show a decline in wine drinking in the next five years.

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