62% of Brits drink wine, reflecting the enduring popularity of the category. However, as many Brits continue to cut back on their overall alcohol consumption, wine volumes have suffered the same fate as other categories and seen a gradual decline over the past decade. Indeed, the performance of the category would be worse were it not for the continued rise of Prosecco, arguably the biggest success story within the alcoholic drinks market since 2010.

Off-trade wine sales continue to outperform the on-trade, helping the market to achieve marginal value and volume growth to an estimated £12.6 billion and 1.3 billion litres respectively in 2015. Despite competitive pricing accruing from the growth of the discounters, Mintel expects rising prices to drive value growth in the coming five years to see the market value reach £14 billion by 2020.

This report analyses the UK market for still, sparkling and fortified wines, including sales through both the off- and on-trade. Coverage in the report is restricted to wine of fresh grape, produced from the naturally fermented juice of the grape and includes low and non-alcoholic varieties.

The on-trade includes premises with a licence to serve alcohol for consumption on the premise, mainly pubs/bars but also nightclubs, hotels and the hospitality sector.

Red, white and rosé wines are the three main types of still wines covered, with lower-alcohol wines (from 5.5% ABV – Alcohol by Volume), boxed wines and dessert wines also included here.

Semi-sparkling wine, defined as having a pressure of less than three bars, is included with still wines in HM Customs and Excise data, and is covered by this report.

Champagne: including rosé and vintage Champagne, is produced under strict regulation within the tightly defined Champagne appellation of France. Within the EU, the term méthode champenoise is similarly restricted solely to the Champagne area.

Sparkling wines: including, white, rosé and red, are known by a variety of terms, dependent upon the region of production. For example:

• Crémant – the generic name for sparkling wine made in France outside the region of Champagne.

• Spumante – the Italian term for a sparkling wine.

• Cava – a type of white or pink sparkling wine, produced mainly in the Penedès region in Catalonia, Spain.

• English sparkling wine – any sparkling wine made in England.

• Asti – a sparkling wine produced in the Asti region in Piedmont, Italy.

• Moscato – a lightly sparkling wine also produced in Piedmont.

• Prosecco – the name is protected under European law and can only be used for wine made from the Prosecco grape in the Conegliano/Valdobbiadene region of Italy.

New World – refers to wines from countries outside Europe, chiefly Australia, New Zealand and the US, but also South Africa, Argentina and Chile, for example.

Fortified wine is wine with an added distilled beverage, which is usually brandy. These wines differ from spirits made from wine as fortified wines have a spirit added to them. There are a wide range of styles, with the best known being port, sherry, Madeira and vermouth.

Drinks made from concentrated grape juice, fruit wine, mead and cider and perry are excluded from this report.