Majestic Wine has reported a dip in sales from its high-street stores, although consumers' taste for more expensive fine wines helped keep some sparkle in its profits.

The specialist wine retailer with 206 stores announced on Monday annual pre-tax profits of £23.8m on sales of £278.2m – up from £23.7m in 2013 – in line with expectations following a shock profits warning in March.

The retailer was caught out by a slowdown in sales after Christmas, as consumers cut back spending on wine to drink at home. Majestic reported a 0.1% fall in like-for-like sales for the year to the end of March, although the average spend per bottle rose to £7.94 from £7.56 last year, with the average spend per transaction up by one pound to £129.

Sales of "fine wine", bottles priced at £20 and above, increased by almost a fifth to £18.7m.

Rosé wine from Provence also proved appetising for Majestic's customers, with sales up 84% over the year. Sales of Malbec from Argentina, France and Chile rose 50%.

Although the wine retailer expects sales to remain subdued well into 2015, it continues to open new stores, and sees potential for up to 330 outlets in the UK. Majestic sells 4.1% of wine in the UK and data from independent market analyst Nielsen showed it pushed up its market share by 0.1% in the face of fierce competition from supermarkets.

The company's focus on bricks and mortar comes alongside an expanding online presence: online sales were up 5.8% last year, and now represent 11.4% all sales.

Chief executive Steve Lewis said: "Majestic made good operational progress in the last year and despite the difficult trading environment delivered a solid performance. 2015 will be a year of increased investment for Majestic to ensure that we have the right infrastructure to maximise on our long-term opportunities for future growth."