Drinking habits turned upside down

Norwegians drink more chilly wines in the heat. Photo: Pixabay.com

The heat has turned Norwegians drinking habits upside down

This summer, Norwegians have bought more light than dark wine or the first time in history. – The reason for the change in drinking habits is quite obvious, says Vinmonopolet.

 

The numbers are clear: In July, 2.8 million litres of white and sparkling wine were sold, while «only» 2.5 million litres of red wine was sold by the State Monopoly.

– If we combine the lighter products, such as cider, white, rosé and sparkling wine – and compares them with darker products like red, fruit and aromatized wine, we see that we sold 57 per cent of the lighter products, while the darker products accounted for only 43 per cent of wine sales, says Communications Director in Vinmonopolet, Halvor Bing Lorentzen to NTB.

Never before has more of the lighter products been sold than the darker ones.

– This is not common. Last year, the distribution in July was 50/50, but if you back even further, the share of lighter wines was much lower than that.

Summer and Sun

The Communications Director believes he has the explanation as to why the lighter products win this summer:

– It is maybe obvious. The warm and sunny summer has made many people alter their shopping patterns. They want fresher, lighter and brighter products, he says.

– The food habits also change during the summer. We eat a lot of seafood and shellfish, and then it is more suitable with white rather than red wine.

Rosé wine boom

During July, red wine sales dropped by 11.5 per cent compared to July last year. At the same time, rosé wine sales rose by 35 per cent, white wine sales by 13 per cent and sales of bubblies by 12 per cent.

– The market share of white wine and sparkling products has never been bigger than in July, Lorentzen emphasises.

The total sales in litres of alcohol by Vinmonopolet increased by 2.3 per cent from July last year to this year, while sales so far this year are 2.5 per cent higher than in the first half of 2017.

– There is not a big change in volume, but there are big differences in what products people now buy, says Lorentzen.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today