Majestic Wine has popped the cork on strong Christmas trading figures as shoppers sought out its premium wine offer over the festive party season.

The retailer reported like-for-like sales rose 2.8% in the 10 weeks from October 29 to January 6 while total store sales rose 5.9%.

Sales in the first 40 weeks of Majestic Wine’s financial year are now 0.8% on a like-for-like basis.

Majestic Wine chief executive Steve Lewis said: “I am pleased to say that recently we opened our 200th store enabling more and more people to shop locally with Majestic. This Christmas, helped by our knowledgeable staff, customers chose to treat themselves and we saw strong growth in sales of fine wine above £20 per bottle.”

Lewis said the retailer’s strategic priorities for 2014 were to grow its store estate by 16 shops, build up its business-to-business arm and grow its fine wine sales.

Lewis said: “I hope 2014 will be a bit more positive for the consumer. We reported 2.8% like-for-likes today and I would hope thats the sort of level we can enjoy going forward.”