Why bubbly Glaswegians prefer to pick up Prosecco

Is Scottish sweet tooth the reason Champers is second best?

CHAMPAGNE Charlies may be proud to call London their capital – but it seems Scotland’s largest city would much rather raise a glass of cheap and cheerful Prosecco.

Glasgow has been named king of the bargain bubbles in a new wine map of Britain.

With annual supermarket sales of the Italian fizz soaring 34 per cent to £345million in the past year, a snapshot survey by discount supermarket Aldi found Glaswegians quaff more of the stuff than anywhere else in the UK.

Big-spending London unsurprisingly came top of the Champagne stakes.

Intriguingly, the map also reveals that Scotland’s East/West divide is still flourishing, with drinkers in Edinburgh showing a strong preference for red over white wine and topping the leagues for sales of Malbec, with its dark fruit flavours and a smoky finish.

The supermarket’s map, which reveals where its 13 most popular wine types have been bought most often, was compiled using data from the first 16,000 transactions on its newly launched online website, aldi.co.uk.

Overall, Sauvignon Blanc came out on top as the nation’s favourite wine variety, finishing ahead of Prosecco, with Malbec taking third spot nationally.

Despite its undoubted popularity with the London party set, Champagne only struggled to tenth spot on the list of favourite wines, beaten by Shiraz (4th), Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Rosé, Rioja and Gavi, respectively.

Journalist and wine expert Tom Cannavan, founder of the popular wine-pages.com website, said Prosecco’s reputation as Champagne’s