UK women feed steep growth in wine sales - 16-Feb-2005
British women continue to drive sales of wine in the UK as their love affair for wine continues. In the last 5 years wine sales in the UK have grown by a substantial 30%, hitting £7.6 billion in 2004 from £5.8 billion in 1999. According to analysts Mintel, the market will leap by the same percentage again, to reach almost £10 billion in 2009.
"The Bridget Jones generation of working women with time and money to spare for luxuries such as wine, have undoubtedly played a significant part in boosting sales," says James McCoy at Mintel. The high-end price increases have also helped sustain market growth, they claim.
In the UK today, as many as seven in ten (69%) women drink wine, compared to just three in five (62%) men. Although men are just as likely as women to drink wine at home, in pubs, clubs and restaurants, a mere one in five (21%) men drink white wine, compared to some 36% of women and while just one in four (24%) men opt for red wine, as many as three in ten (31%) women do so.
* No surprise there - wine in pubs is generally disgusting .