Sparkling wines suffering because cocktails are more ‘Instagrammable’

SPARKLING wine sales have fallen for the first time in a decade as young people choose more “Instagrammable” rum and gin cocktails, figures show.

While sparkling wine, particularly Prosecco, has enjoyed a boom over the last 10 years, it is now facing a decline according to the Wine and Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) Market Report, to be published next week.

Still wine has been in decline for a decade, but growers enjoyed rising profits from fizz, as sales rose year on year, until this year. Sparkling wine sales went down for the first time by 3 per cent in the last 12 months.

The price of wine has gone up by up to 7 per cent in the past year, and the WSTA said this could be partly to blame for the drop in sales. From 2015 to 2019, wine sales have seen a minus 24.5 per cent drop in volume, and a minus 8 per cent drop in value.

Spanish wine has become 7 per cent more expensive over the last 12 months, and Italian wine has gone up by 6 per cent. Wine from France and the US has gone up by 3 per cent, while South African wine is 5 per cent more expensive.

A spokesman from the WSTA said: “There’s definitely a thing around the price of wine. The ‘ginaissance’ is also a factor. It has led to a resurgence in the spirits category. A greater number of younger people are enjoying gins, pink and flavoured gins and now moving on to exploring rums.

“We are seeing that drinks like this are more Instagramable, which is a factor that has helped growth.”

The wine industry has blamed government for refusing to cut duty on wine for 35 years. The Government is now facing growing calls from the drinks trade to tackle the issue in the Budget on March 11.

Six leading London restaurateurs have signed a joint letter to Simon Clarke, the Exchequer Secretary, which says: “We are experiencing firsthand how the hospitality industry is being hit by this fall in wine sales, with businesses in the sector being put at increasing risk of failure.

“Not only do closures have a direct impact through job losses, but there is also a knock-on impact on the entire supply chain for the failed restaurant.

“Cutting wine duty will not only benefit consumers and the wine industry, but will also provide a muchneeded lifeline to the UK’s struggling hospitality sector.”

Their call has been echoed by Joe Fattorini, the wine writer. In a statement on behalf of Wine Drinkers UK, a pressure group comprised of industry organisations and consumers, he said: “With the date set for the new government’s first Budget, Wine Drinkers UK is calling for a fairer deal for the 33million wine drinkers in the UK.”