Top drinks suppliers went head to head this week in a Dragons' Den-style session hosted by Tesco to find the next innovation in spirits.

In the event on Thursday key suppliers such as Diageo, Bacardi, Pernod Ricard and First Drinks pitched ideas for new spirits to a panel of managers from the Tesco BWS team.

Mark Suddaby, Tesco spirits category manager, said the growing popularity of at-home cocktail-making gave the industry an opportunity to boost sales.

"We want to bring much-needed excitement to the spirits industry and the way forward is by looking at the potential of cocktails and mixers, with the accent firmly on clarity of measures," he said.

The winning drinks ideas will be stocked in Tesco next year.

l In the meantime, low-alcohol wine brand Three Mills, stocked exclusively in Tesco, claims growing consumer demand for lighter-alcohol wines has helped it sell one million bottles in four months.

Brand owner Broadland Wineries claimed weekly sales had rocketed from 5,550 bottles at launch to a current rate of 15,924.