Wine has overtaken both beer and spirits as the most enjoyable alcoholic beverage, according to a new survey by YouGov.
According to the survey 81% of adults who have drunk alcohol in the past year have drunk wine, narrowly ahead of both beer and spirits, which both come in at 79%.
When asked to pick their favourite alcoholic drink, wine was again the favourite with consumers, gaining up 28% of the vote. Beer was second on 23% with spirits coming in at 20%.
The favourite wine style among UK drinkers is dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc, chosen by 41%. Second favourite at 38% are full-bodied red wines such as Malbec or Shiraz.
Prosecco outstripped Champagne 34% to 24% while English sparking was the preferred style of 16%.
Light-bodied reds such as Pinot Noir were chosen by 23%, blush rosés such as White Zinfandel by 22% and oaked Chardonnay by 17%. The dry rosé style produced in the south of France, for example, tied with English sparkling on 16%.
The survey also revealed that wine drinking is no longer the preserve of the middle classes, with its popularity matching that of beer among C2DE consumers at 23%. Spirit-drinking is slightly behind in that demographic at 22%.
Helena Nicklin, wine writer and presenter of ITV’s The Three Drinkers, said: “These findings put to bed the lazy, outdated stereotype of wine as a preserve of the middle classes. They show very clearly, across the board, that it is the nation’s number one alcoholic drink.”
An estimated 33.9 million people in the UK drink wine each year, the data suggests.
Win is however heavily taxed and several leading UK wine suppliers have joined forces to launch a campaign aiming to secure a tax break for wine.
Companies like Treasury Wine Estates, Concha y Toro and Enotria have created a lobbying group called Wine Drinkers UK and a social media campaign using the hashtag #CutBackWineTax. Britain currently pays more in wine duty than anywhere else in Europe.
