Wine in Poland

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Changing attitudes to wine boosts growth while spurring interesting developments

Although wine consumption is not yet as culturally entrenched as the consumption of beer or spirits, major changes are being seen in the drinking habits of many Polish consumers. Underpinning this is the development of a strong and sustainable wine appreciation culture.

Strong growth is seen in sales of wine, benefiting category leader Ambra SA

Sparkling wine experienced surging demand in 2019, with this entirely due to the growing popularity of imports of cava from Spain and prosecco from Italy. These products are often considerably less expensive than champagne, and usually have attractive fresh and fruity notes.

Henkell & Co merges with Freixenet SA to create a major player in sparkling wine

During 2019, Henkell & Co, owned by Oetker Group, entered into a merger with Freixenet SA to create a global leader in the manufacture and distribution of sparkling wine. Freixenet is one of the outright leaders in the manufacture of cava, while Henkell & Co’s Mionetto Prosecco is the leading brand of Italian sparkling wine.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

On-trade volume sales of wine are expected to fall by 27% in 2020 in light of the impact of COVID-19. This represents a far inferior performance to the expected 5% rise forecast for 2020 during research conducted in May 2019, ie before the spread of COVID-19.

Affected products within wine

With incomes under pressure due to the economic uncertainty that has been seen in the wake of COVID-19, premium brands will inevitably have been more negatively affected by the impact COVID-19. In particular, imported products expected to have faced a particularly serious situation as consumers are likely to be focusing on the less expensive options on offer from local wineries.

Recovery and opportunities

The forecast period is expected to see the numbers of Polish consumers who have an active interest in fine wines, wine culture and enotourism continue to increase, with a genuine national wine appreciation culture emerging slowly but steadily. These favourable trends and background situation that were supporting moderately positive sales growth in wine prior to the onset of COVID-19 are expected to re-emerge before the end of the forecast period.

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