Top 10 best-selling Proseccos in the UK

As Prosecco continues to boom in the UK’s retailers, we count down the top 10 best-selling Italian sparklers by value – highlighting the massive growth of the sector’s leader.

Prosecco has enjoyed a 54% year-on-year value growth in the UK retail sector

The figures for this list come from Lanson International’s 2014 Champagne Category Report, which considers in detail the overriding trends in the UK sparkling wine market.

Commenting at the start of this illuminating annual sector assessment, UK MD at Lanson, Paul Beavis, pointed out that an increasing sparkling wine market was good for Champagne.

“At Champagne Lanson, we see the overall growth in ‘bubbles’ as a
good thing,” he began.

Continuing, he explained, “There are demonstrably more similarities than differences between the sparkling and Champagne consumer, so the more people who enter the category in general the better.”

Nevertheless, he stressed that Champagne needs to do more to “communicate” its “superior history, heritage
 and quality stories.”

Meanwhile, the report showed that the growth of the UK off-trade market for sparkling appears to be entirely driven
 by Italian sparkling, the vast majority of which is Prosecco: it has enjoyed a 54% year-on-year value growth while all other countries are declining or showing flat sales.

Beavis noted, as previously reported by db, that Prosecco is not growing at the expense of Champagne.

“While there is some softening at the lower end of the Champagne category, many more people are trading up to Prosecco from still white wine or rosé, or switching from more traditional apéritifs such as gin or vodka,” he said.

Read on for the top 10 best selling Italian sparklers by value in UK retail (all figures are the sum of sales by value over 52 weeks to 04.01.14).

10. La Marca Prosecco: £5,044,233 (up 5%)

9. Oro Puro Superiore Prosecco: £5,149,585 (up 35%)

8. Fillipo Sansovino Prosecco: £6,388,749 (up 66%)

7. Torretta di Mondelli Prosecco: £7,310,206 (up 17%)

6. Marca Oro Prosecco: £7,404,257 (up 32%)

5. Martini Prosecco: £9,418,649 (down -28%)

4. Maschio Prosecco: £10,605,284 (up 70%)

3. Martini Asti: £13,429,272 (down -8%)

2. Borgo Sanleo Prosecco: £15,728,260 (up 25%)

1. Private label Prosecco: £95,375,751 (up 90%)

The greatest growth has occurred among the sector’s leader, private label, which accounts for 42% of the total Italian sparkling market in the UK off-trade.

Such a trend lends weight to an assertion by one of Prosecco’s most quality-oriented producers, Nino Franco, that private labels are hindering premium Prosecco.

In an interview with the drinks business in February this year, Silvia Franco from the producer commented,

“It’s very easy to sell a Prosecco when it’s cheap, but it’s much more of a challenge to sell a Prosecco at a price that is a bit higher than a DOC or private label, even if you have a high quality product with a family behind it.”