Responsible Wine Drinkers Clobbered Again in Budget

It’s that budget time of year again when those who enjoy a good wine are entitled to a good whine (pardon the pun!)

Our wise Chancellor, Alastair Darling, has once again increased the duty on wine. It is now £1.69 per bottle plus VAT for still wine, and £2.16 plus VAT for sparkling wines – which means the Government will now take nearly £2 per bottle for still wine and over £2.50 for sparkling.

For me, in my profession, this seems to be grossly unfair for the responsible drinker – so why does he do it? The short answer (they say) is to curb binge drinking, but is this really a valid argument? The reality is that the main cause of binge drinking is the availability of cheap booze from the supermarkets which frequently ‘loss-lead’ alcohol in order to encourage male shoppers into their stores. This may be legal, but it is also irresponsible, and it has other side effects – in particular the effect on the pub trade. Unfortunately, it is mainly teenagers who buy the cheap booze, get drunk and indulge in anti-social behaviour.

It seems to me that all these rises have, so far, had no visible effect on the situation so surely the time has come to try something else? Many people, including the medical profession, are suggesting a minimum price per alcohol unit of 50p. This means a bottle of wine at 12% alcohol strength would be £4.50. This would not affect any wine drunk in a restaurant or bar and would also not affect most home drinkers who tend to avoid the very cheapest bottles. Surely this is a much more sensible way forward? Maybe more people should make their feelings known at the forthcoming General Election so that some sanity can be brought to the table?

Also, another point to ponder: when you are buying that cheap bottle of wine in Tesco’s for £2.99 it seems reasonable to ask what you are getting for your money? After the Government has taken their £2.00 cut it only leaves 99p for the rest. The bottle, the labelling, the cork and the capsule (the foil that goes over the cork) costs about 45p. Add to that the transportation costs (which even from France works out at about 25p per bottle) and that leaves 29p. How much of that do you think goes to the wine producer? If Tesco have anything to do with it – not much!

So let’s get sensible about the cost of wine and stop using binge drinking as the excuse for hitting responsible wine drinkers with unnecessary costs.

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