Breaking: Britons drink less wine
“WE HAVE been sozzled but now we may be saturated. After a spectacular 25 years of rising wine consumption in Britain, sales have now gone into decline.”
So runs the lede to an important story in yesterday’s Scotsman about the decline in wine sales in the UK.
Traditionally a country that fueled weekends and even some weeknights with beer and spirits, Britons discovered the fruits of the vine starting in the 1980s. But in the first four months of this year, wine sales declined 1.5 percent in volume, a first during the long bull run. It will probably turn out to be only a minor dip on the way to greater heights (bull markets don’t always go straight up after all) but it no doubt makes winemakers around the world draw a collective short, sharp breath.
The implications for wine producers would be serious if the British reverted to beer and booze since the UK imports the largest amount of wine in the world. With wine being distilled into ethanol in France, a crisis in Australia, and a bountiful harvest in California in 2005, consumers can but hope that the extremely competitive wine market will continue to deliver great values.
The US still remains a growing market for wine consumption, forecast to be the world’s largest by 2008. But Americans can’t drink it all so if the Brits slow down, producers are going to have to look to other outlets (like Hungarian monkeys).
tags: wine | wine consumption | UK
