Sherry Amour

Sherry is performing most strongly in the fortified wine sector while Port’s popularity is on the increase.

Fortified wines are declining slightly, as consumers reduce their annual consumption. Sherry is performing most strongly, becoming more popular while raising prices, but still seeing average purchasing drop slightly.

Port is also performing reasonably, by bucking the market. Prices are down, popularity is down, but average purchasing is rising quickly, as consumers find more occasions to enjoy a drink. Vermouth is suffering from reduced popularity as well as reduced consumption, possibly as a result of rising prices.

Fortified wine remains tied to the Christmas season, with three times as many people buying Sherry at Christmas than during the rest of the year. Port is the most strongly tied to Christmas, with a near ten-fold increase in popularity. A significant amount of this purchasing will be gifting.

The retailers back different horses when it comes to fortified wines – Tesco overtrades in less popular sectors such as Vermouth, while Sainsbury’s overtrades in Port and Sherry. The top 10 brands are very fluid – possibly the most significant movement is the rise of private label brands over the past year.

Supermarkets are increasingly succeeding with private-label in wine, and fortified wine is a natural extension of this. Harvey’s Bristol Cream is still considerably ahead of other brands, with almost twice as many buyers as its nearest rival.  db January 2006 

Top 10 fortified wine brands (by penetration)

•  1 Harvey’s Bristol Cream
•  2 Croft Sherry
•  3 Dow’s Port
•  4 Taylor’s Port
•  5 Cockburn’s Port
•  6 Tesco Sherry
•  7 Martini Vermouth
•  8 Sainsbury’s Sherry
•  9 Martini Bianco
•  10 QC Fortified Wine