Rising Sales of Prosecco Bucking the Fizz Trend this Festive Season

With the credit crunch taking the fizz out of the UK’s champagne and sparkling wine market Italy’s best kept secret, Prosecco, is emerging as the clear winner over the festive season.

Despite the general downturn in sales of fizz across all retailers this year sparkling wine Prosecco has been bucking the trend and looks set to capture its largest ever slice of the lucrative festive season market.

Prosecco has proved to be the star of the fizz category at Tesco in 2012 with sales already double what they were last year but with the biggest expected concentrated sales of the year still to come in the run up to the New Year.

Tesco wine category manager Alain Guilpain said: “What makes the rising demand for Prosecco even more startling is that until about five years ago it was generally only known by connoisseurs.

“But it has grown by word of mouth and has become our fastest growing fizz this year, not only riding the credit crunch storm but emerging as a true winner because of its great quality and keen price point.

“Judging by strong sales and record orders in the last few weeks it looks very much as if a record number of Brits will be drinking Prosecco over the festive season.”

The wine gets its name from the Glera or Prosecco white grape variety which is grown mainly in the Conegliano and Valdobbiadene wine-growing regions of north east Italy.

It is a fresh and lively wine with crisp, fruit-driven character, often compared to apples and dessert pears with a clean, refreshing finish.

Prosecco’s claim to fame is that it was the original wine used in both the Bellini (sparkling wine and peach puree) and Spritz cocktails (sparking wine and orange liqueur).

The best seller at Tesco is the supermarket’s own label Finest Bisol Prosecco di Valdobbiadene which sells for £9.99 (reduced to £8.49 until 1st January)

Added Tesco’s Alain Guilpain: “Prosecco is well established as a popular alternative to champagne in Europe – but now it looks as if it will also become a household name over here.”


---
Tesco is the UK’s largest retailer and one of the world’s leading international retailers. Tesco has more than 6,000 stores worldwide, employing almost 520,000 people in the 14 countries in which it operates.
Our core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty. Our success depends on people: the people who shop with us and the people who work with us.