United Kingdom wine consumption

2020 Organic wine sales: The Soil Association’s United Kingdom Organic Market 2020 report revealed that organic wine was the star performer in supermarkets, with sales rising 47% in the year ending 28 December, according to data sourced from Nielsen. Supermarket sales of organic beer, wines and spirits (BWS) grew ahead of overall organic supermarket sales in 2020. BWS supermarket sales were up 32.9% for the 12 month period ending 2 Jan 2021, according to Nielsen, compared to 12.5% growth for overall organic supermarket sales during the same period, as revealed in the Soil Association Certification’s Organic Market Report 2021. This marks the highest year on year growth rate in the organic market since 2005, with a 10th consecutive year of growth, the Soil Association Certification says. Increased product availability allied to consumer concerns were in play. Year on year growth for the total organic market rose 12.6% to £2.79bn in 2020, according to the the Soil Association Certification. Online sales accounted for almost 25% of the total sales (including supermarket online sales). Source: ‘Sales of organic wine rise by 47% in the UK ‘, by Phoebe French, The Drinks Business 5th Feb 2020.

2017: ‘The amount of wine drunk in Britain has risen more than sevenfold since 1960, while the population has grown by only 25%,’ (‘Cheers!’, The Economist December 23rd 2017, p.113).

Note: Organic wine sales include both certified organic and Biodynamic wines.