Wine sales below pre-Covid levels as consumption continues to fall

Wine remained Ireland's 2nd astir fashionable alcoholic portion past twelvemonth aft beer, according to Drinks Ireland

Wine income successful the Republic remained beneath pre-pandemic levels past twelvemonth arsenic per capita depletion continued to autumn successful enactment with a wide inclination towards much mean drinking.

The drink’s stock of the full alcoholic beverage marketplace besides declined by 8.9 per cent successful 2022 from 2021, according to caller figures from leader lobby radical Ibec’s Drinks Ireland division, and 17 per cent from 2020 astatine the tallness of the Covid lockdown play erstwhile pubs were closed and in-home vino depletion surged.

In its Wine Market Report 2022, the radical said income of vino – Ireland’s 2nd favourite alcoholic beverage aft brew – “showed nary existent change” compared with 2021 but remained 3 per cent little than pre-Covid levels. “We are continuing to witnesser an wide displacement successful depletion trends, with Ireland moving to a much balanced and mean attack to drinking,” said Drinks Ireland manager Cormac Healy successful a statement.

White vino remains the astir fashionable favourite category, accounting for 48 per cent of the full market, followed by reddish vino with 45 per cent and rosé with a somewhat smaller stock than 2021 astatine 6 per cent.

Chilean vino remains the astir fashionable vino with 24.7 per cent of the marketplace share, followed by Spanish, Australian and French wines.

“Today’s study shows a resilient vino category, 1 with conscious and mindful consumers who relish successful the important prime of precocious prime products the class has to offer,” said Mr Healy. “It is, therefore, disappointing that Irish consumers proceed to wage disproportionally precocious levels of excise duty.”

Drinks Ireland has called for a 15 per cent alteration successful intoxicant work implicit the adjacent 2 budgets.

However, taxes connected intoxicant and cigarettes are apt to stay untouched erstwhile Budget 2024 is unveiled adjacent month. Senior Government figures told The Irish Times successful August they did not deliberation it was the clip to summation excise connected the alleged “old reliables” of intoxicant oregon cigarettes amid concerns astir expanding the load connected consumers. However, a chopped successful intoxicant work is besides considered improbable contempt repeated calls from the drinks industry.

Ian Curran is simply a Business newsman with The Irish Times