It’s no surprise there’s a whole day dedicated to Sauvignon Blanc. It truly is the nation’s favourite grape, selling more than any other varietal of any colour and topping £1 billion off-trade sales in the past 12 months. In fact, 5 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc are consumed every second in Great Britain. Although we always advocate responsible drinking, we must raise a glass to that!

While the grape originally hails from France, these days it’s New Zealand that has become synonymous with Sauvignon Blanc. Half of all sales come from the country, with New Zealand liquids commanding a 20% price premium per litre. However, as we’re seeing across the market, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has been blighted by supply issues and shortages in availability have led to Chile, South Africa and Australia all gaining share.

Tapping into the growing trend for Chilean wine, which holds its rank as the #2 country of origin for Sauvignon Blanc, Broadland Drinks’ brands El Tesoro and Proudly Vegan have both seen strong growth in their Chilean Sauvignon Blanc sales over the past year. El Tesoro Sauvignon Blanc is up a whopping 174%, with Proudly Vegan Sauvignon Blanc up a respectable 20%.

We are also seeing some exceptional Sauvignon Blancs coming out of South Africa, which is growing well ahead of the category at +23% YoY compared to the 8% average decline in Still Wine. “We recently added a South African Sauvignon Blanc to the Waipapa Bay range”, comments Brand Manager Kat Hall. “With poor New Zealand harvests, we decided to look further afield to meet consumer demand.  The quality of Sauvignon that we found in South Africa was outstanding.  Thanks to the cool ocean breezes of the Western Cape, Waipapa Bay’s South African Sauvignon Blanc is typical of the country, which produces refreshing liquids with ripe tropical fruit flavours.”

We could go on describing numerous characteristics from many different countries of origin, but one thing is for sure: there’s a Sauvignon Blanc for everyone.


Off trade, based on NielsenIQ Still Wine (exc. Minis), MAT 9th April 2022
Note, sales of Sauvignon Blanc within French regional wine (e.g. White Bordeaux, Loire) are not included above