The Rise of Wine Advent Calendars
Trends to watch
As the festive season approaches, advent calendars are no longer just for children. Over the past few years, wine advent calendars have become a favorite way for adults to count down to Christmas. More than 50,000 are sold in the UK each year, despite their premium pricing.
From single-serve bottles to curated sample collections of premium wines, these calendars combine holiday cheer with a touch of sophistication. Here’s a look at the key trends shaping this growing phenomenon.
Virgin Wines Advent Calendar 2024
© Virgin Wines
1. Premiumisation: Elevating the Experience
Gone are the days when advent calendars were only filled with budget-friendly wine options. Many brands now focus on offering high-quality, premium wines, including vintage selections and boutique winery exclusives. Consumers are willing to spend more for a memorable experience, and wine advent calendars are stepping up to meet these expectations.
Example: High-end calendars, such as The Perfect Cellar’s, featuring wines from renowned regions like Bordeaux, Napa Valley, and Tuscany.
The Perfect Cellar Advent Calendar 2024
© The Perfect Cellar
2. Pressures from increased taxes and material costs
With the rise to wine duty, getting an advent calendar to retail for less than £100 is increasingly challenging. EPR (Enhanced Producer Responsibility) offers an additional challenge in 2025 and onwards, especially for calendars using glass.
The threat of a Deposit Return scheme, linked to the number of containers, also will dramatically increase the cost of a calendar, with the retailer expected to take a deposit per plastic or glass bottle, or can. For example, the Scottish DRS scheme proposed a deposit of 20p per container – adding £5 to the cost of a typical bottle-based wine advent calendar.
3. Sustainability: Eco-Friendly Packaging
With the rise of environmentally conscious consumers, many wine advent calendars now feature sustainable packaging. Recyclable materials, minimalistic designs, and ultra-lightweight packaging such as ecoSIP are increasingly popular.
Example: Brixton Wine Club’s clever use of canned wines.
Brixton Wine Club Advent Calendar
© Brixton Wine Club
4. Sparkling Sensations: Bubbles for the Holidays
There’s a growing emphasis on sparkling wines, from Prosecco to Champagne. These calendars tap into the celebratory nature of the season and are perfect for those who want to add a touch of glamour to their December countdown.
Example: Freixenet’s “24 days of fizz” calendar featuring sparkling wines from around the world.
24 Days of Fizz
© Freixenet
5. Discovery Through Storytelling
More brands are using wine advent calendars as a storytelling platform. Each day offers a wine with a unique story, such as its winemaker’s heritage, vineyard history, or cultural significance. This adds an educational element to the calendar, making it more than just a tasting experience.
Example: Here at The Online Wine Tasting Club, we have been taking our customers on a virtual race around the world to collect 24 different styles of wine from most of the major wine regions, in the style of Phileas Fogg. A QR code links to a short video each day, telling the story of the adventurers and the wines they have found on their travels.
6. Less, but better.
With increasingly health-conscious consumers looking to moderate their alcohol intake, a 187 or 200ml serving of wine every day, plus a full bottle on the 25th (as is common) is looking less and less responsible; you can easily end up consuming far more than recommended. These calendars can encourage you to drink more than 5 litres of wine in less than a month – on top of whatever else you may be enjoying over the Christmas season. More calendars are moving to smaller portion sizes of wine, and using the saving to offer considerably higher quality drinks at the same retail price point.
Example: Naked Wines offer 24 x 100ml servings of premium wines, which is less than the UK Government’s recommended guidelines for alcohol consumption. This calendar includes wines that could not fit in the budget for a 187ml calendar, allowing a much more diverse range of drinks, including Georgian wine and Port.
Naked Wines Advent Calendar 2024 – © Naked Wines
Final Thoughts
Wine advent calendars are no longer a niche product—they’ve become a staple of holiday gift-giving. With trends focusing on premium quality, storytelling and sustainability, they’re appealing to a broader range of wine lovers.
So, raise a glass and toast to the season — one sip at a time.
