Wines and wine connoisseurs

“We nearly doubled our wine and sparkling wine sales in the first eight months of 2023 if compared with the previous year. Guests can find our wines in more and more restaurants, and we are very proud to be the wine supplier of every Michelin-starred restaurant. We are developing our Mitiszol? retail brand too: there is an online shop (mitiszol.hu), a special wine store in the Westend shopping centre, and we are the top partner of the biggest festivals”, says Gergely Németh, commercial director of Chef Market Zrt.

“Auchan’s wine and sparkling wine range stands alone in the market. We are working with 150 Hungarian winemakers at the moment, offering around 1,000 wines and 200 sparkling wines every day of the year. We organised a big wine festival every October, and Auchan also hosts a few smaller wine fairs”, informs purchasing and supply director Judit Dobrovitsné Király.

“At SPAR wine and sparkling wine sales are decreasing in volume, but the decline has been smaller since the beginning of the year. As for value sales, both categories have produced growth mainly because of the inflation, of course”, reports head of communications Márk Maczelka.

Bubbly is popular

“Lidl Hungary’s contribution to the Hungarian wine sector’s domestic and foreign sales was HUF 14.2bn in 2022, an increase of more than 60% percent compared to five years ago. Lidl sold more than 15 million bottles of wine in foreign markets last year, and shoppers can now choose from over 200 types of Hungarian wine in 16 European countries”, says head of company communication Judit Tőzsér.

“We are witnessing the triumph of white wines in Hungary and internationally as well. Since this is the most popular category, we have an exceptionally large selection of white wines, great lots at great prices. Another big winner of the past year was prosecco, which is showing dynamic growth – it is clearly becoming really trendy, especially among young people”, points out Károly Gerendai, sales and category specialist for wine and sparkling wine at METRO.

Trends and target groups

Young target groups are very important for Chef Market Zrt., so the company is there at the biggest music and wine festivals. Their long-term vision is to show young people that wine and champagne are a much better choice than long drinks, as the consumption of Chef Market Zrt.’s organic wines and sparkling wines is affordable, sustainable and trendy.

Auchan has expanded its bag-in-box and wine bag selection. These products are characterised by easy-to-handle packaging and better quality preservation, and they are popular at parties. Auchan also targets young consumers with its RTD (ready to drink) range, which includes beer or wine-based cocktails, ready-to-drink spritzers, fruit-flavoured wines, and cocktail bases.