Hallgarten survey points to higher UK festive wine spending in 2026

Hallgarten & Novum Wines’ 2026 Festive Trends Report found that 27% of surveyed consumers expected to spend significantly more on wine in December than a year earlier, and 39.8% expected to spend slightly more. Only 3.4% anticipated spending less. The report did not establish whether higher spending would reflect buying more bottles, trading up, or both; 43.8% said they expected to purchase more wine.

For celebratory occasions, the most commonly selected price range was £26 to £40, cited by 33.4% of respondents. English wine attracted interest from 39.2%, ahead of France (36%), Italy (35.2%) and Spain (29.8%). Champagne was the most selected sparkling category for festive toasts, at 33.4%, followed by Prosecco at 27.4% and English sparkling at 20%.

Supermarkets were the most popular planned shopping destination overall, named by 78% of respondents. Premium consumers—defined in the research as those typically spending more than £15 per 75cl bottle for home consumption—also expected to use online wine retailers (54%) and specialist merchants (46%). Hallgarten conducted the survey with Nielsen in August 2026 among people who had bought wine for themselves or their household in the preceding four weeks.