Kingsland Drinks has released its third phase of proprietary WinePRO™ research, which seeks to better understand the wine-drinking consumer in the UK.  By defining the consumer, the role, and the occasions on which they drink, the research is used to understand opportunities for wine products and retailers, as well as to inform Kingsland’s offerings and drive value for its key customers.

Working with Kantar World Panel, the WinePRO tool has been used in this phase to examine occasions that involve food, in order to understand how they affect the consumption of wine.  It also delves into the consumer needs such as health, refreshment, convenience and personal treating that drive choices.

To create a focused and actionable approach for growing the wine category, the research, split by weekday vs weekend and number of people present, considered 30 different ‘occasions’:

  • Lunch
  • Afternoon Snack,
  • Teatime
  • Evening Meal
  • Evening Snack

Andy McIvor, Research and Insights Manager at Kingsland Drinks, comments:

“Food and wine have a relationship across planned meal occasions which continues to be enviable to most other drinks categories. However, growing demand for healthier, convenient and more refreshing food & drink occasions, means that wine needs to innovate to maintain its relevance in the long run.  

Snacking on the rise

The research found that 84% of wine occasions involve food, however, despite a growing population, there are now 100,000 fewer evening meal occasions than 4 years ago. In contrast to this, there are 172 million more Evening Snack occasions; consumers are eating main meals less and snacking more.

Why are we snacking more?

There are several factors driving this shift to more frequent snacking. Consumers, particularly the younger age group 25- 35 years are more concerned with their health, so could be eating fewer large main meals.

Product convenience plays a large role too, suggesting that our time-poor society seek quick, easy nutrition.  In general, we are also eating a drinking alone more and more often, which means that we are less likely to cook traditional meals from scratch.

Weekday drinking

We can see that more young people (18 – 35 years) eating alone during the week are opting for water or adult soft drinks, when alcohol is drunk it tends to be lager or cider, this is driving down use of white wine.  The older age group (45+) is continuing to drink more wine, particularly driven by routine and need to relax after a long day.

Food and Wine Pairing

The choice of drink is driven by consumer needs such as whether it complements the meal, taste, any health implications / benefits, and convenience.   The research found that wine is particularly popular with planned meals for 2 which are cooked from scratch, often paired with roasts, Italian food and pizza.

However, in the week and particularly if a larger group is getting together, they are more likely to be eating convenience food or takeaway and pairing with lager, cider, sparkling wine, or non-alcoholic drinks.

Consumer needs

Whilst wine is seen as a planned complement to traditional food, the total alcohol category is seeing growth for different consumer needs, including: refreshment, trying something new, health, convenience and treating.

Future-proof

Thanks to their understanding of these changing consumer needs, Kingsland is able to navigate these trends.  Clearly the snack occasions provide a real opportunity for wine drinking, but currently they are more associated with lighter alcoholic drinks including lager and cider.   The introduction of the Zork closure for sparkling drinks could help drive the choice of wine during snack occasions and make wine more accessible.  Innovation in smaller and on-the-go formats, such as single serve or pouch, could also increase frequency of use during the week.

For more information or images, please contact Hannah Todd or Holly Ward at

The Forge Communications

hannah@theforgecommunications.com /holly@theforgecommunications.com

01483 821079

Notes to editors:

In order to record this data Kingsland worked with Kantar World Panel.  A nationally representative sample of 12,000 consumers had their shopping habits analysed and then recorded what, when, how and with whom they consumed the products via the Virtual Cupboard diary system. Data was reviewed from a 52 week period over the last 4 years.