Prosecco versus Champagne

With the recent meteoric rise in the popularity of Prosecco amongst UK wine consumers, it was really inevitable that it would replace Champagne as the toasting wine of choice at weddings. The big surprise was how quickly the shift happened and the sheer scale of it. Last year almost two thirds of all UK weddings favoured Prosecco as the greeting and toasting wine whilst the more traditional Champagne was the sparkling wine of choice at only 8% of wedding celebrations. When you consider that Prosecco only started to overtake Champagne as the most popular wedding sparkler in 2013, the Champagne industry must have had a bit of a shock.

It is a touch of an unfair battle, though; the advantages that Prosecco producers have over Champagne producers are overwhelming and the extraordinary shift is not actually that surprising when you look at the pros and cons for each of these sparkling wines.

Slashing The Catering Budget

Weddings are expensive. Even small scale weddings are expensive, which are often small scale due to a lower overall wedding budget. A good bottle of Prosecco is much cheaper than a good bottle of Champagne, in fact, Prosecco is usually much less than half the price of Champagne and if you have a lot of guests at your wedding, that can represent a significant portion of the catering budget.

Higher Quality Product Availability

As well as taking the crown from Champagne as the most popular wedding toast sparkler, Prosecco sales have generally overtaken all other sparkling wine varieties in terms of general sales in the UK. This means that there are more winemakers turning their hand to Prosecco production to meet UK consumer demand which, in turn, means that there are a wider variety of different Prosecco products on offer catering for a myriad of different tastes. Prosecco tends to be a dry sparkling wine but is lighter and more fruity than Champagne and so it has a wider appeal amongst consumers. Champagne tends to be more of an acquired taste.

Prosecco is currently trendy. Previously, it may have been seen as a cheap alternative to Champagne and so winemakers didn’t pay quite as much attention to their Prosecco production and high quality products were much less common. The fact that many winemakers have now jumped on the band wagon and are all producing their own brands of Prosecco is a good thing. It means that quality and price are closely monitored to ensure that products are competitive in a buoyant market. There are some truly amazing Proseccos available currently, at surprisingly low prices. Premier Estates Prosecco certainly falls into the amazing bracket having won awards from the most prestigious wine awards body in the industry, the International Wine Challenge.

Luxury and Decadence

Weddings are all about celebration and decadence and this requirement can most certainly be satisfied by a good Prosecco. Sparkling wine always feels decadent as we associate it with celebrations and special occasions, there are also many businesses offering personalised Prosecco bottles specifically aimed at the wedding wine marketplace which can look amazing, but which don’t necessarily add too much to the overall catering costs.

Ordering Premier Estates Prosecco for Your Wedding

If you have a wedding in the near future or you are organising a wedding, the Premier Estates Wine team would love to hear from you so that we can introduce you to our award winning Prosecco and our other high quality still and sparkling wine products which we can supply at surprisingly competitive prices. Call today on 0121 707 9994 and it will be our pleasure to assist you with your exciting plans and preparations.