Most retailers felt their business performed better than last year this festive season, a survey by Drinks Retailing found. 

When asked about the 2025 festive trading period compared with the previous year, 56% of retailers said they had done better, while 37% reported about the same performance, and only 6% said they had done worse. 

Notably, retailers said that Champagne sales were down, though other sparkling wines were generally reported to have sold well. 

“Crémant and Cava sales were well up compared to last year,” noted Dean Pritchard, owner of Gwin Llyn Wines. 

Likewise, “sparkling wine continues to rise in popularity, with Crémant and English sparkling wine performing particularly strongly at OWC,” said Emily Silva, head of retail and marketing at The Oxford Wine Company. 

Across the board, retailers reported that top-end Bordeaux sales were down due to increased prices. There were mixed opinions on the success of Burgundy for the same reasons. 

In beer sales, David Jones, owner of Beer Huis, noted a shift towards bottles over cans, due to customer perceptions that the former looks cheaper. 

Meanwhile, as expected, multiple retailers reported an increase in the sales of fortified wines. 

Looking back on the year, rather than specifically Christmas, many respondents mentioned low & no drinks as an area of growth. 

“Following the change in how excise duty is calculated, there was an increased interest in wines with lower alcohol,” explained John Earle, MD of Christopher Piper Wines. 

Expanding on this, Chris Howells, group director of Must, noted the increased popularity of tea and sparkling tea as an alcohol alternative. 

Elsewhere, areas of growth included tequila, RTDs, English wine and increasingly offbeat wine regions as consumers become more experimental with their drinking habits.

Premiumisation also remained a theme throughout the Drinks Retailing survey, with many retailers noting a lower spend overall, but on more luxury items.