Cheers! We drink record 140 million bottles of fizz in 2017...
2017. Combined with economic factors, prosecco and other imported sparkling wines may be in short supply next year.
Ciaran Myles, research and insights manager at the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said: “It’s safe to say there is no bursting of any bubbles, given sales figures for sparkling wine, although they are not quite as lofty as they once were.
“If you compare this year to the previous two years growth for the total industry, then volume sales of sparkling wine were about 15 per cent in 2015, 10 per cent in 2016 and it’s looking like single digits this year.
“Reports of lower yields from the slopes of northern Italy, inflation and all the complications that come with Brexit mean volumes of sparkling wine might go a little flat in 2018. But the UK sparkling wine market is well placed to weather tough times.”
Added to sales of champagne, the UK sparkling wine market is worth more than £2billion.
In 2016, there were 503 commercial vineyards registered in England and Wales and 133 registered wine producers.
Southern England’s chalky soil and climate are similar to the Champagne region of France, meaning it has ideal conditions to make sparkling wine the traditional way.
The success of these wines has seen champagne houses like Taittinger and Pommery buying land and investing in vineyards in the UK.