The sector appears to have recovered from any millennium hangover and in the 12 months to the end of October showed value growth of 4%. This is a creditable performance as the previous 12 months included the peak selling period prior to the millennium celebrations. The conclusions that can be drawn from this are that consumer purchasing patterns are changing and alcohol is becoming a more regular part of the weekly shop. The main driver of this is the wine market which ­ at 8% growth to £2.8bn ­ continues to be worth more than any of the other categories. This has been driven by aggressive sales through the multiple grocers, which now have more than 70% of off-trade wine sales. The leading supermarkets have been increasing their volume share of total alcohol sales by 6% in the last 12 months while the convenience sector has more than just kept up with 7% growth. Multiple specialists, meanwhile, have suffered, losing 6% value share and 12% in volume. The major multiples' success has been down to a combination of factors. Their aggressive pricing policies have proved attractive to many consumers and they have caused shoppers to trade up in volume and value through the use of multibuys and multipacks. They have also recognised that the big brands are claiming larger market shares in all the categories, and helped to generate these sales by focusing their activities on the key products. In the wine market, the big brands are becoming increasingly dominant. While the category is up 8% in value, this is being driven by the sector leaders. The combined growth of the top 10 brands is averaging at 31%. The phenomenon has been driven by the New World which has exploited the opportunity to develop its brands. In particular, the Australians have led the way with seven out of the top 10 brands. The market is led by Gallo from California and it is followed closely by Jacob's Creek. Stowell's of Chelsea has benefited not only from renewed interest in the wine box market but also from its move into 75cl bottles. Percy Fox's Californian range, Blossom Hill, has made it into the top five with rapid growth of 45%. But the rising star in the sector is undoubtedly Western Wines' South African brand Kumala which has become the ninth bestselling brand by quadrupling its size in the last 12 months. Its value sales are up 414% and volumes are up 461%. The beer market has also shown respectable growth, at 2%, although volume is performing well ahead of value, indicating the degree of price deflation that has taken place. Lager is the dominant beer style accounting for 75% of take home sales and this growth is fuelled by the continued popularity of multipacks. This began with stubby 275ml bottles but is now common across most pack sizes. Of the top 10 brands, nine are lagers. Guinness, at No 10, is the only non-lager beer to have held its own. This market is also dominated by the big brands, with the top 10 growing six times faster than the total market. Their growth has been fuelled by an increasing number of line extensions into multipack variants and larger bottles. The growth of the flavoured alcoholic beverage/premium packaged spirit market shows no sign of slowing down. It is now worth £2.6bn and it is still growing by value, at 37%. Interest in this sector is being maintained by the entrance of new brands and by the continual addition of new flavours to existing products. Nevertheless, the market is heavily weighted to the leading styles. Bacardi Breezer continues to dominate but Hooch, the first brand into the sector, is losing share. Archer's Aqua has proved to be the most successful entrant into the category this year. The spirits sector is growing at 3% but the top brands are not increasing their share rapidly. They have faced competition from more sophisticated own label offerings as well as a lot of keen pricing from cheapest on display and tertiary products. The top performer was Baileys Irish Cream which grew by 16% and is now the sixth bestselling spirit brand. {{P&P }}