Wine remains diners' top choice of drink

White and red wine remain the most popular drinks for restaurant goers, new figures have revealed.  

The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 consumers for the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA), showed that 54 per cent of respondents had drunk at a restaurant in the last four weeks. 

The most popular drinks were white wine (22 per cent), red wine (20 per cent), lager (16 per cent), sparkling wine (11 per cent) and rose wine (10 per cent). 

This was followed by ale, cider, vodka, whisky, gin and fortified wine respectively.

Pinot Grigio and Merlot remained the top two varieties.

Almost two-thirds of consumers also revealed they had drunk at a pub or bar in the last month, with lager being the most popular drink.

Meanwhile eight out of 10 people said that they had drunk at home, with red wine, white wine and lager being the three most popular alcoholic drinks.

The WSTA Q1 report said that volume sales in the on-trade overall continue to decline for the year to 24 January, but the 2 per cent fall was the lowest annual fall in five  years.  

Research by CGA Strategy earlier this year found that wine and spirit sales were becoming increasingly important for on-trade, accounting for almost half of the value of all drinks sales in new openings.