UK sales of champagne and sparkling wine lose their fizz in past year – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

Champagne has slumped in popularity in the UK over the past year, while consumers also kept other forms of sparkling wine on ice.

Sales of the premium French bubbly fell by (***************************************************************************************************% from about (m to) ******************************************************************************************************** m bottles in the last recorded 12 months, leaving the UK market worth £ m – or about £ a bottle .

The figures suggest that the lower-end champagne has been hit particularly hard. As recently as (********************************************************************, more than******************************************************************************** m bottles were sold in the UK, which was worth £ (m, or £) ********************************************************************************************** a bottle – according to the (Wine) ******************************** and the Spirit Trade Association (WSTA), the industry body that compiles the figures.

The lack of fizz in the champagne market came as the WSTA reported that general sparkling wine sales had also dropped by volume, slipping by about 5% on last year to around (m bottles, with revenues flat at £ 1.5bn.)

The trade body blamed the struggling market on changes in young people drinking habits and a rise in the duty on sparkling wine, following changes introduced by former chancellor Philip Hammond in his autumn budget, which came into effect in February (******************************************************************. Those tax increases raisedthe duty on a bottle of still wineby 7p,and 9p on sparkling wine, while duty on both beer and spirits were frozen.

A WSTA spokeswoman said: “Young people aren’t drinking as much and sales of still wine are generally down. But excise duty plus VAT is pushing up the prices of wine and fizz and [is] definitely taking its toll. ”

However, Andrew Hawes, chairman of the Champagne Agents’ Association, said the off-trade – the sale of alcohol via supermarkets and off-licenses and excluding bars and hotels – was down by just 5 % in the past year. He added: “The supermarkets are easing off on [sales of own label champagnes] which, coupled with price increases on [well known] brands, is having an effect on sales’ volumes. ”

In more positive news, the alcohol trade body said sales of liqueur in the last months have hit their highest ever level, with m bottles worth £ 1.3bn sold , as UK consumers experiment with new cocktails.

The WSTA figures show that over the last year, m bottles of cream liqueurs and m bottles of non-cream liqueurs were sold – growth of 4% on (********************************************************************. **********

“We expect further growth in as Britons continue to experiment with new and exciting drinks choices and share their finds on social media, ”predicted WSTA CEO Miles Beale.

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