UK: Sainsbury’s Cava sales leap at Christmas

UK retailer Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Vintage Cava was its best selling wine over the Christmas period.

The sparkling wine topped the retailer's best selling list for beers, wines and spirits over the four week Christmas period, with sales up 50% year-on-year.

Etienne Dumont Champagne was the second highest selling product, beating the usual best sellers, bananas and milk.

Asked whether Cava may have been chosen as an alternative to Champagne over the festive period, a spokesperson for Sainsbury's told just-drinks: "It's possible that customers were choosing the sparkling wine over Champagne due to the current economic climate, but Etienne was our second best selling product so it was still selling well."

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Irish Cream Liqueur saw an increase of 60% year-on-year and mulled wine posted a 50% increase on last year's figures.

In the last quarter of the year Sainsbury's said that spirits sales were up 13% year-on-year.

The retailer confirmed yesterday (8 January) that it would look to create around 2,000 jobs in the next year, after surprising the market by revealing that sales growth had continued during the autumn and Christmas.

The company posted a 4.5% rise in third-quarter like-for-like sales, excluding fuel. Total sales rose 4.8% during the 13 weeks to 3 January.