We are pleased to announce the publication of our 2026 Premium On-Trade Wine Report.
This edition of the report demonstrates the importance of the premium on-trade doubling down on its strengths: writing wine lists that offer breadth of choice and providing a quality of wine and of experience that encourages guests to spend more per bottle. Although the on-trade has faced, and continues to face, multiple challenges, quality continues to be the only route to sustainably grow wine sales.
The data unsurprisingly confirms that on-trade wine volumes are in long-term decline and demonstrates that, even when accounting for current economic conditions, the primary cause is that consumers are drinking more of the wine they purchase at home and less in the on-trade. The only long-term solution is to offer guests an experience they can’t replicate at home and, as part of this, persuade them to spend more per bottle on better quality wines.
Although this isn’t easy to achieve, the premium on-trade has done so successfully in the past, and consumers remain willing to spend in the right circumstances today. Cutting quality will only make the problem worse, as seen in the poor performance of the on-trade outside premium. Perhaps most encouragingly, the data shows that consumers are more engaged in wine than ever before, exploring a wider range of grape varieties and seeking out wines that offer provenance and personality.
The report focuses not only on what is changing in the market, but why it is changing. We hope that this identifies opportunities for your business to strengthen its wine list and grow sales. If we can help you to achieve this, please get in touch.