Majestic reveals the trends to watch this Christmas

By Michelle Perrett

Published: 12 November, 2021

Sparkling wine and Champagne, Beaujolais, Rosé, bag-in-box and wines from South Africa are tipped to be some of the top sellers this Christmas, Majestic Wines has predicted.

The UK’s largest specialist wine retailer admitted that predicting anything over the last 18 months has been “incredibly difficult” but its latest data has shown some “surprising results”.

The news comes as the wine retailer revealed it is to hit TV screens this Christmas with a new national campaign. The company’s first-ever festive advert and first commercial in just under a decade will turn its real life “staff into on-screen stars”.

As the party season kicks off sales of sparkling wine and Champagne have skyrocketed, up by over 30% in sales compared to the same period last year and being driven by more unusual styles of fizz, such as cremant and English fizz.

Majestic said that one surprise success story since March 2019 has been the popularity of Beaujolais, which saw over 70% growth last year and a further 10% like-for-like sales for the six months to 1 November, 2021.

The biggest mover of the last six months, and the one Majestic believes will be a long-term trend, is the renaissance of South African wines. It said that with New Zealand hard hit by a reduction in volumes, wines from the Cape have filled that void growing by 12% in market share so far this year.

Majestic also revealed that alternative packaging including magnums, half bottles and bag-in-box wines, have grown by more than triple in sales in 2021 – growing by 330%.

The data also suggests that this Christmas is likely to be a pink affair with sales of rosé surging in the winter months last year (+35%), which it predicts is likely to be repeated this year. The Buyers at Majestic believe this is due to an increase in “seriousness” in this style of wine, with a growing appreciation for the more food-friendly, darker coloured wines.

Christmas is always a time for Port, which has also enjoyed a year of unprecedented growth even outside of the Christmas season, with sales up over 25% year to date driven by “unusual, but instagram-friendly, bottle shapes,” Majestic revealed.

The wine retailer has also been backing Greece as a country to watch, with a growing share of shelf space and wine styles now available than ever before.

In spirits, Majestic believes this is the year Tequila will finally make it big – with sales up over 80% year to date.

“Last year it was incredibly difficult to predict trends in the marketplace, as there was quite simply so much going on. We saw huge increases in sales of ‘classic styles’ as customers rushed to fill their racks with old, reliable favourites with such an unprecedented situation,” said Majestic chief commercial officer Robert Cooke.

“Now, however, we’re beginning to see the dust settle and some really exciting new trends emerge. This promises to be an eclectic, and exciting, Christmas period with a real variety of bottles on the UK’s Christmas tables. Whilst the well-documented supply challenges will also mean some difficulties too, it presents an opportunity for other categories. As always, we’re really excited to be driving some of these at Majestic; with our 800+ WSET qualified colleagues in-store and free tastings.”

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