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English sparkling wine
Majestic sales of English sparkling wine brand Nyetimber and Chapel Down rose 58% and 36%, respectively. Photograph: Andrew Hasson/Alamy
Majestic sales of English sparkling wine brand Nyetimber and Chapel Down rose 58% and 36%, respectively. Photograph: Andrew Hasson/Alamy

Majestic Wine toasts strong sales of English festive fizz

This article is more than 6 years old

Sales rise 4.1% in crucial 10-week festive period, with English sparkling wine soaring courtesy of Brexit-effect on sterling

Majestic Wine has reported strong Christmas sales, with consumers increasingly opting for English sparkling wine rather than champagne as their choice of festive fizz.

The wine retailer said underlying sales rose 4.1% in the 10 weeks to 1 January. Within that performance like-for-like sales in its stores climbed 1.3%, but sales to pubs and restaurants fell 4.6%. Profit margins were in line with a year ago.

Rowan Gormley, the chief executive, said it was a tough market with shoppers sticking to their budgets amid higher wine prices triggered by the weakness of sterling.

“We saw people trading down from champagne to English sparkling wine. English wine’s day has come, it is a genuine trend partly driven by the price with Brexit making it more competitive [than champagne].”

Christmas is key to Majestic Wine’s success as the 10-week window accounts for 30% of annual sales.

While champagne sales are in decline Majestic said sales of English sparkling wine brand Nyetimber and Chapel Down rose 58% and 36% respectively. At sister website Naked Wines sales of English wine were up 150% year on year. A bottle of English fizz typically costs £20-£25 versus £25-£30 for champagne.

The weakness of sterling has pushed up wine prices by 6% and Gormley said savvy wine drinkers had sought out cheaper alternatives to chablis and rhone, with sales of non-rhone viognier and picpoul from southern France up 49% on last year.

“People are used to spending £6.99 on a bottle of wine that now costs £7.50 so they are looking around to see what they can get for £6.99,” continued Gormley. “Instead of drinking rioja reserva they are drinking standard rioja or switching from Italian pinot grigio to Slovenian pinot grigio.”

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