Tuesday is set to be the busiest wine-buying day of the year across the UK, the country’s largest online merchant has predicted.
Laithwaite’s has estimated that it will ship 60,000 bottles of sparkling wine alone during the week, with a quarter of those bottles being delivered to offices across the country.
Champagne sales are forecast to remain flat on the year, but sales of English sparkling wines are set to be up 26 per cent, according to the merchant.
Partially spurred by the slump in the value of the pound against the euro in the aftermath of last year’s Brexit vote, English sparkling wines have enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent months, regularly beating their French counterparts in international competitions.
It was reported earlier this week that pub group Fuller’s had replaced its French house champagne, Collet, with English sparkling wine across its 500 UK pubs following a successful trial last year.
“This is an absolute game-changer,” Fuller’s head of wine, Neil Bruce told the Guardian. “We are showcasing English wine in a way we have never done before. Our customers absolutely get the superb taste and quality and value for money,” he added.
According to the English Wine Producers trade association, around 66 per cent of all English wine produced is sparkling, with still white accounting for around 24 per cent, and red and rose making up the remaining 10 per cent.
The most recently available data shows that just over 5 million bottles of wine are produced in the UK on average annually, but it’s estimated that this figure will soar to around 10 million by 2020, according to the association.
The largest single vineyard in the UK belongs to Denbies Wine Estate.
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