Sparkling wine ‘the hottest category in the world’

Sparkling wine is expected to drive a 1.8% increase in UK wine consumption from 2015 to 2019, tracking above the global average of 1.4%, with Prosecco dominating the market.

Guillaume Deglise, CEO of Vinexpo

Overall, UK consumption of sparkling wine by volume is expected to rise by 13.2% between 2015 to 2019, whereas still wines will achieve modest growth of just 0.6%, resulting in overall growth on 1.8%, according to data released today by Vinexpo in partnership with the IWSR.

In comparison, global consumption of sparkling wines are expected to increase in volume by 7.4% between 2015 to 2019, and still wines by 0.8%, resulting in an overall 1.4% increase in consumption.

The UK’s positive outlook for the next four years follows a drop of 8.2% in still wine consumption between 2010 and 2014, which resulted in an overall decline in consumption of 5.6%. In contrast, sparkling wine achieved huge growth during this period with volume sales increasing by 33.5%, with Prosecco being the main driver.

Speaking to the drinks business yesterday, Guillaume Deglise, CEO of Vinexpo, singled out sparkling wine as “probably the hottest category in the world”, due to its consistent global growth since 2010. Deglise also highlighted rosé as a “hot” category, but stressed its growth was not global and currently confined to a few countries including France, the US and UK.

In 2014 global sparkling wine consumption grew by 11.5% compared to the previous year, while non-Champagne sparkling wines grew even faster at a rate of 15.2%. Within this category, Italian sparkling wine saw volumes grow at a rate of 52.1%.

“Prosecco is very strong in the UK although it’s not really driven by brands”, said Deglise. “It’s an unbranded category because people are asking for Prosecco not a particular brand. That creates an opportunity for premium Prosecco in the UK in the future.”

Referring to the evolution of Prosecco in the UK market, Deglise said that in the past asking for Prosecco could “be a problem”.

“People would ask for Champagne and be given Prosecco”, he said. “Now people are asking for Prosecco. Because of the price point it is an everyday luxury, whereas Champagne is seen as something to be enjoyed for a special occasion. Prosecco is no longer for a special occasion and that makes a big difference in consumption figures.”

Consolidating its thirst for sparkling wine further, the UK is also the number one export market for Champagne, which saw growth of 6.1% to 32.7 million bottles in 2014. Consumption of Champagne outside of France also increased by 2.4% between 2010 and 2014 to reach 10.9m cases, with the Asia Pacific market driving this growth, led by Australia and Japan. Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Korea and China also achieved growth, but at a lower rate.

Overall, the global sparkling wine category is expected to grow by 7.4% in volume between 2015 to 2019, with Asia, North and South America and southern Europe all expected to increase their volumes by more than a million nine-litre cases each.

In light of the rising success of the sparkling wine category, the drinks business will this year be launching its first Global Sparkling Masters. The Global Sparkling Masters will judge both sparkling and semi-sparkling wines made in a wide variety of styles.

For more information and to enter click here.