The winter holiday season is officially upon us and consumers have begun to “Deck the Halls” in celebration of this festive time of the year. As preparation for holiday feasts commence, consumers are making sure that their guests have a “Holly Jolly Christmas” with their favorite alcohol.

A Nielsen Insights titled “Americans Jump-Start the Holidays with Their Favorite Bottle of Vino” states that Christmas and New Year’s Eve are the two biggest holidays for wine sales in the United States, accounting for 69 percent more dollar sales than the average two-week period in 2016, ringing up more than $1 billion in sales in that two-week period alone.

In the two weeks between Christmas and New Year’s, sparkling wine takes the cake with sales surging more than 272 percent, the Insight states. Table wine sales jumped 47 percent during that same timeframe with red wine outpacing white wine, it adds.

Although wine is the alcohol drink of choice for many, the spirits category also benefits from the holiday season. Spirits sales reached nearly $964 million in the two-week time period between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, marking a 79 percent increase, Nielsen data indicates.

Brown spirits, in particular, show the most growth with cognac sales rising 104 percent, and whiskey sales rising 98 percent, during that same timeframe, it adds.

The thirst for beer, flavored malt beverages and hard ciders are not as popular during the winter holiday season, however, Nielsen does mark Christmas and New Years as No. 4 in sales for those categories.

Statistics indicate that consumers likely will serve wine and spirits at their holiday table. It will be interesting to compare future data to see whether this trend continues.