UKH

I have noticed my local supermarkets have switched to stocking twice as much white wine as red. And about as much rose and fizz as red.

Red wine used to dominate. What has happened in the last year or so? Did we all switch to white wine drinking during lockdown...?

Thank the Gammons, it's another Brexit benefit.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/17/complex-post-brexit-tax-ru...

"British consumers have been told that the price of some of their favourite red wines could increase by more than 40p next year after the government ignored pleas from the wine industry to abandon complex post-Brexit tax changes." 

Guess the supermarkets are judging that it won't sell as well given the increase on the already ludicrous pricing.

Red : White is about 50 50 in Tescos here. But lockdown could have had an influence with lots of people enjoying an early afternoon drink during the nice weather (WFH or furloughed), and white wine/sparkley lends itself to this. 

What I noticed yesterday was a complete aisle of lager (the same size as the white wine rose aisle), mainly in cases. 
 

ETA: just been googling, in the U.K. we consume more white than red but only by about 1.5 %, globally it’s way more red but a significant increasing trend towards white. 

Majestic Wine Warehouse or The Wine Society are your friends. 

Tanners.   (Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Hereford) but do deliveries.  The claret is usually pretty darn good,

Ti's the season for Font and the supermarkets don't need to stock as much French red as climbers will be bringing it back at the same quality at well under half the price (as at say Majestic that has an excellent range) .

I'm afraid I don't drive, so I can't fill my Octavia estate with french booze.

This thread was more about the phenomenon of the move to white than a 'where should I buy wine' query.

It's not a seasonal phenomenon, either, but I was reminded of it by the mung bean thread.

Seriously struggled to buy box red wine for my traditional annual vat of mulled wine last Christmas. Morrisons didn't even have it. Country has gone to the dogs. 

On the other hand, last night I did see mung beans.

It's not something we've noticed in the general supermarkets we visit in Nottingham or W. Yorkshire, nor in Majestic...which has a great selection but with brexit benefits of extra cost maybe keeping our consumption lower and health better.

I've been struggling to find anything other than a rudimentary selection of bottled beers in the supermarket for a few years now, yet there's yards of shelving devoted to cider.

Then I remember that I live in Somerset and all becomes clear.

Back on wine, I second the recommendation of the Wine Society.  Some top stuff there.

T.

Slightly off topic, but on the subject of wines, are you aware of https://www.newhallwines.com/ this award winning white and rose producer.. and the twist... they're in Essex! Yes, seriously!

Never mind wine, where is the Soreen? For the last 2 weeks Sainsbury's in Hazel Grove has just had those stupid lunchbox maltloaf. Bleughhhh

They do red as well. I've heard they are lovely but moderately expensive given no import duties.

There is no import duty on EU wine. English wine pays the same excise duty as imported wine £2.67, hence the high starting threshold for any bottle regardless of quality. 

What is the duty free allowance?

Gone are the days when it was down to how much space (or weight capacity) your vehicle has.

24 bottles of wine and one of spirits 

Actually 24 bottles of wine and 2 litres of spirits.

I was being sloppy about duty but there is some if you look in detail and also I was thinking about impact of post brexit non traffic barriers on cost. Wine importers are hardly happy.

https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/importing-wine-post-brexit

I used to work for a wine merchant who imported wine. His wife voted for Brexit! We were all gobsmacked.

Long gone are the days where we could bring back a 2 year personal supply then.

Sorry, I've been on a bit of binge. 😂

Aldi malt loaf is acceptable if you don't mind slumming it with the lower orders

Gone to for'ners every one.

It isn't malty or sticky enough

Where has all the red wine gone...?

I’ve been trying my best to drink it all. Another thumbs up for the Wine Society and Majestic.

I'm too common to care

The ability for people to moan about Brexit is impressive.

Also, your post is very disingenuous. It makes it sound like a Brexit complexity that's resulting in prices rising. That's not the case at all. It's the UK government deciding to tax alcohol based on alcohol content. Hardly a silly way of doing it.

They are also raising a bit more money from alcohol also. Again, this is our chose to do so. I would rather see tax being raised form unnecessary luxuries like alcohol than most other means.

I think it's down to cheap white wine tasting better than cheap red wine.

Red red wine is awful. For a long time I thought I didn't like red wine because of this.

Decent stuff however, red wins. Discovered later in life.

So the influx of crappy wine I think has resulted i the demise of red wine.

Not a UB40 fan, then?

Single-handedly?

Doh.

*cheap red wine

I don't think that has suddenly changed, so doesn't account for my observation about the change in the relative stock levels.

Not sure I agree with your point, either, but then I don't suppose my tastes are as refined as yours.

We c

That is horrendous, we cannot allow women to hold opinions or think for themselves

He's just being a foolish snob. Bodega red cask stuff is often pleasant in Spain and probably still around 2 euros a litre. Loads of less fashionable southern French areas have  good AC wines below 5 euros a bottle (my fave being Ventoux).

Yup. I've long held that you can rarely go wrong with a cheap claret.

Prior to 2020 I came back two years running from the Pyrenees with c.100 bottles in my van. The vast bulk were c.€5 a bottle, mostly Bordeaux/Gironde, Madiran, St Mont & Cahors. Generally speaking, I'd need to spend 3-4 times that in Majestic or Waitrose to get something comparable. Now that I've massively reduced my intake I can justify spending more with the Wine Soc and only being able to bring back a measly 24 bottles per head as a non-EU Citizen of Nowhere stings a bit less than it might have.

Just buy a good Amarone. It's reassuringly expensive and very gently potent.

My goodness, what an unexpected first!,  I'd almost agree with you!?! However, in my experience Dingac is typically better, although still pricy where its produced in Croatia (even more so,  and rare in the UK) . It's what the greedy tossers on the superyachts sometimes drink on the med when they are slumming it.

Or as a punchy alternative I like this:

https://www.majestic.co.uk/wines/3-finger-jack-zinfandel-18973

Special occasions wines.

I'm quite a discerning pisshead you know

I guess the shops are stocking what they think they'll sell. From a winemaking mate I understand white's in fashion at the moment and red is out (in particular Bordeaux). The rule of thumb they use is to plant the vines that aren't in fashion so they are ready when the cycle comes back around.

Edit to add: point being, maybe it's just the white part of the fashion cycle rather than any particular world events

I think it's for 3 reasons:-

1) women drink more wine than men, and they've been drinking Prosecco for long enough to have got used to drinking white.

2) Supermarket Reds tends to be from the New World and more alcoholic than whites from Europe. They attract higher tax/duty, thus are more expensive, and in a cost of living crisis won't sell as well as white.

3) Cost of living crisis means less 'regular' drinking whilst retaining levels of 'party' drinking. White is more of a party wine than red (see (1)), which is more of a regular wine. Thus lower demand for red.

That's what I suspect: 'fashion'/'consumer preferences'

Do you mean like VAT on private school fees?

I wouldn't describe any education as an unnecessary luxury.

No, just choosing a luxury education. 
Kind of like (Value Added)-(TAX) 
 

Are you sure? I thought it was purely based on alcohol content, and all red and white will fall within the same band (I’m discounting white wine that’s under 8.5% - it should be illegal to produce this).  

When I looked at the stats, it doesn’t look like this is a cycle - it’s a continuous trend to drinking more white Vs red. 

higher as in more, not a higher rate.

From .gov

‘Wine between 11.5% and 14.5% ABV will be treated as if it is 12.5% ABV for the purposes of calculating the charge to Alcohol Duty from 1 August 2023 until 1 February 2025.’

Only wine 11% or under gets less duty, 30 pence per bottle.  Red wine is more expensive primarily due to  more production (eg storing and ageing) costs. 

Who drinks wine at 11% or under ??

Wouldn't be allowed in my cellar.

In Wigan, people on The Wagon.

Same. 

Those crafty teenage children, at it again...

Unfortunately I can’t drink any alcohol at the moment Steve…….

Considering some of the vines are hundreds of years old stock and not just planted for a season, I doubt that…

French, and indeed a large number of other European vines aren't actually all that old. Look up the "Great French Wine Blight".

An interesting book by George Ordish, somewhat over academic, it details in great detail the catastrophic spread of phyloxera throughout Europe from about 1860. What it doesn't make clear to me is how long and when production caught up with pre- phyloxera levels. Vines grafted onto resistant american stock typically produce economically for between five and thirty years, a shorter period than previously ungrafted vines. It is still the case that older vines "vielle vignes" tend to produce smaller quantities of more flavoursome wine. Some vines remain ungrafted, a few walled vineyards in Burgundy and vines grown on sand dunes "vin de sables"

Maybe because it’s caused absolute chaos for so many people? Arguably this isn’t a major one (no import tax doesn’t mean no impact, there’s still a pile of paperwork to do), but nonetheless the point stands.