The UK Wine market is worth over £14 billion and is the world’s largest per capita importer of wine, accounting for some 20% of the world’s total wine imports.
The average cost of a bottle of wine is in the region of £6. It is reported that about half of wine buyers (over 9.5 million) in the UK refuse to buy wine above this price with the average bottle costing £5.93.
Of this HMRC takes £3.22 in wine duty and VAT
If my sums are right that’s a whopping 54% ! Taxes on wine have increased by 40 per cent in the last decade as opposed to beer which have increased 16%.
Surely wine drinkers have been punished enough with this unreasonable level of tax. It’s enough to encourage us to drive over to Calais and fill up with our quota of duty free, or convert to the increasing array of non alcoholic , no duty wines and distilled spirits, and on that note .... watch this space.. ’