Sales of magnum wine bottles rise by 500 per cent amid warnings of binge drinking at home

Magnums of wine, once a decadence reserved for the most opulent of celebrations, have now hit the mainstream, with sales rocketing up 500pc.

Experts have warned this could lead to binge drinking if there is a price incentive to buy the alcoholic drinks in larger quantities.

The large vessels of prosecco, champagne and wine have become more affordable, and are in some cases thriftier for the volume of drink than single bottles.

In some cases, consumers do get more bang for their buck by buying a magnum. Waitrose’s Les Dauphins Côtes du Rhône Villages Magnum costs £13.49 while it is on sale, and £17.99 at its regular price, while the regular-sized bottle of the same wine costs £9.99. There is a saving of £2 if shoppers buy the magnum even at its non-sale price.

Tesco’s magnum of Soave costs just £8, while a 75cl bottle is £4.35, meaning one makes a saving of 35 pence per bottle. Sainsbury’s sells a magnum of its House Pinot Grigiot for £9, while a 75cl bottle is £4.65, so shoppers could make a saving if buying the wine in bulk.

According to Waitrose, purchases of the magnums, which are twice the size of a normal wine bottle, have doubled over the past year. The supermarket explained the trend in its stores are for non-sparkling wines such as Côtes du Rhône in 1.5 litre bottles.

A similar trend is seen in other supermarkets; Sainsbury’s and Tesco said they have experienced growth of more than 20 per cent, while at Majestic Wine, the UK’s largest specialist wine shop, sales have risen by 500 per cent.

Discount stores have begun to offer the larger bottles to people wanting a cut-price party, with Aldi offering a magnum of Prosecco for under £13. Lidl also released a line of luxury champagne magnums for under £30 in December last year.

The trend meant that a record £15m in magnum sales was reported in the UK last year, according to Nielsen Research. This is just a drop in the ocean within a £6.7bn UK wine market, but as more affordable options come on the market, it could lead to magnums becoming even more popular, perhaps overtaking boxed wine.

Prof Petra Meier, the head of the Alcohol Research Group at the University of Sheffield said there could be binge drinking worries if the bottles become commonly known as a cheaper option.

She told the Guardian: “If we get to the stage where there’s a price incentive to purchase them, like there is with boxed wine, then this could become more of a concern.”

The professor argues that larger serving sizes tend to lead to “more and faster consumption”.