At Vinopolis we enjoy our work and take all matters of the vine to heart. Which is why we believe the Chancellor’s 2008 budget is detrimental to wine drinkers of every kind, from those who enjoy a tipple to wine enthusiasts.

We also believe that the Chancellor missed an opportunity to be more proactive in tackling binge and nuisance drinking in Britain. As well as raising money for the country’s coffers, a budget could have been created with a far greater social conscience.

Did you know? Statistics show that between midnight and 5am, 70% of emergency attendances are alcohol related. Overall 26% adults aged 16-64 have an alcohol disorder of some kind (Institute of Alcohol Studies, July 2007).

Darling’s indiscriminate budget raises tax by 14p on all bottles of wine from 5-15% strength. He completely neglected to tax the alcopop style drinks favoured by binge drinkers and applied a light hand to cider which is frequently abused by the young.

Did you know? The average spent on a bottle of wine in the UK is £4.10?
Did you also know that in a £3.99 bottle of wine just £0.05 is spent on grapes but in a bottle of £5.99 wine £1.05 is spent on grapes?

As the Chancellor acknowledged, previous tax rises have been absorbed by wine producers and sellers, rather than added onto the retail price which has barely risen in recent years. If this is even partly the case in 2008, wine at the lower end of the market will inevitably be of a lesser quality. This may discourage the consumption of wine, which is acknowledged to be one of the healthiest forms of alcohol.

Since the 2008 budget, Britain's wine drinkers have become the most highly taxed in Europe; France pays just 2p of duty per bottle, compared to our £1.47! And in Italy, Austria, Spain, Portugal and Germany there is NO DUTY! England now pays the highest duty in Europe for wine.

Did you know? Since 1971, according to Bloomberg, due to a combination of vine growing, winemaking techniques and climate change, the average strength of Napa Valley wine has risen from 12.5% to 14.8%. In Southern France, wines that used to have strengths of 9-10% now regularly have over 13.5%. Alcoholic strength seems to be rising by 1% per decade.

A small (125ml) glass of a white wine, with 9% alcohol has one unit of alcohol. However, a large (250ml) glass of white, at 14%, contains 3.5 units - more than the recommended maximum daily intake for a woman. A full bottle would contain 10.5 units, three quarters of the recommended weekly intake. If there was a reduced band for table wines below 12.5%, it would make it easier for wine drinkers to respect the recommended daily number of units.
Did you know? People who regularly drink 6+ units a day have 3 x the risk of mouth cancer and double the risk of oesophageal cancer compared to non-drinkers. That’s equivalent to 2 pints of premium lager.

Vinopolis is petitioning the government to reduce tax on table wines below 12.5% so as to encourage the production, sale and consumption of wines with more moderate alcoholic strength. We also want to see the alcohol tax burden being shifted to super-strength beers, lagers and ciders and alcopops to discourage ‘binge’ and nuisance drinking in Britain.

To join us and sign the petition go to: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/wine-tax/ and add your name.