For the first time English sparkling wine has climbed two places to become Britain’s fourth bestselling fizz, offloading 3.5m bottles to UK markets in 2016.

The Wine and Spirit Trade Association’s annual market overview also revealed that prosecco is still the most popular sparkling wine in the UK with 85m bottles sold in 2016, and champagne remains in second having sold 31m bottles.

Chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, Miles Beale (pictured), said: “Jumping two places to the UK’s fourth favourite fizz is another amazing achievement for English wine.

“Production is small compared to more established wine making regions, but the quality of English wine is shining through. Wine lovers have woken up to the fact that English sparkling wine is a premium product, which tastes great and can compete with the best."

Duty on a bottle of sparkling wine in the UK has recently increased by 10p in the March budget to £2.77.

Beale added: “We hope that the new government realises the potential of English wine and lowers the UK’s excessively high wine duty to encourage growth and investment.”

The most recent HMRC figures show that during the last financial year (2016-17), more than 350, 000 bottles of English sparkling wine were released onto the UK market than the previous year, a 25% boost.

The WSTA market overview shows English sparkling wine has overtaken Cremant and Australian fizz, which have experienced a small dip in sparkling wine sales over the last two years.

Australia remains top of the still wine sales leader board with almost 300m bottles sold in the UK in 2016, and the US came second selling more than 200m bottles.

Read more at source Drinks Int