NZW reports strong UK off-trade performance

By Lisa Riley

Published: 19 January, 2021

New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) has reported a 23% leap in off-trade value sales of New Zealand wine in the UK.

Moreover, for the year ending 26 December 2020, an additional 14.4 million bottles of New Zealand wine were sold compared to the same period in 2019 (Nielsen Scantrack).

Value sales were boosted by a 2.5% average price increase from £7.24 to £7.42 per bottle, which is significantly above the total market average price per bottle of £6.09, said NZW.

The total wine category has grown by £1.02bn in the UK off-trade during the same period, with New Zealand wine contributing over 12% of this growth, according to the data.

NWZ said it appreciated that much of the growth in take home was due to the UK on-trade having been virtually shuttered for much of the year, but “we hope when we return to normal that this brings opportunities for the on-trade to take advantage of the popularity of New Zealand wine in this sector”, said UK marketing manager Chris Stroud.

“The past year has been tremendously difficult for all but despite this it is very pleasing to see the continuing popularity of New Zealand wine.

“It is particularly interesting to see growth across the whole New Zealand category with double digit growth in both reds and whites and significant growth for rosé, which shows the UK is exploring the diversity New Zealand offers,” he said.

New Zealand’s most exported variety, Sauvignon Blanc, has unsurprisingly been a large contributor to the strong wine category gains in the sector. The New Zealand wine category has grown by £125m, of which Sauvignon Blanc has contributed 86%, at £108m.

However, Sauvignon Blanc was not the only variety experiencing exponential growth, with the past 12 weeks having shown a 69% volume growth for rosé in the UK (Nielsen scantrack).

Rosé is now the fourth largest New Zealand wine export, at 5.6 million litres globally last year, according to the NZW’s 2020 Annual Report.

That is more than double the 2.4 million litres in 2017, and 10 times that of 2010, when New Zealand exported just 0.56 million litres of rosé.

At the beginning of this month, NZW revealed the content of its inaugural New Zealand Wine Week, which kicks off 8 February as a virtual event, which will include ‘Challenging the Myths around Food Miles’ – a sustainability focused webinar in association with Harpers.