Australian V
intage chief executive Neil McGuigan wants the UK government to introduce a new tax band to encourage the production of wines naturally lower in alcohol.
Speaking to Harpers in London this week, McGuigan said a tax break for wines with an alcohol level of up to 10.5% or 11% abv would be a winner for all concerned.
His comments come as UK ministers seek to encourage supermarkets to stock more lower-alcohol wines as a way of reducing consumers’ overall alcohol consumption.
At present, all still wines above 5.5% and up to 15% abvare lumped into the same tax band in the UK.
“We could make fantastic wine at 10%-11% abv, so give us a chance,” McGuigan said. “The government wins because they still get the tax, the consumer will win because they still get something flavoursome, and the anti-alcohol lobby will win because they go from [an average] 13.5% to 10% abv. Everyone wins, so why aren’t they doing it?”
There is a precedent for such a policy in beer, where the UK government has created a three-tier tax system; up to and including 2.7% abv, up to 7.5% and above 7.5%.
However, for now, Harpers understands that a mid-tier tax band for wine is not something that the industry’s key trade body, the Wine & Spirit Trade Association, is
currently focusing its attention on.
At Australian Vintage, McGuigan is equally focused on the group’s new 5.5%-abv wines – a 2013 Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc – named Miranda Summer Light and
entering multiple retailers at a recommended £4.99 per 75cl bottle from this month.
“Around the world, everybody wants to have people drink less alcohol,” McGuigan said. “We’re not Nostradamus, it’s a trend you can smell everywhere and if we aren’t at the forefront of it, we will be left behind.”
Miranda Summer Light, which is bottled in the UK, has been two years in the making. “We could have released a 5.5% just like that, but I said we’re going to release the best 5.5% wine in the world,” said McGuigan.
Various techniques, such as picking warm climate grapes to reduce acidity and using lees contact to add “thickness” to the Sauvignon Blanc, mean that the wine came in at around 8% abv. Patented spinning-cone technology was then employed to reduce alcohol further to 5.5%.
“We didn’t start at 11% abv and strip it back. We said, we are not going to use the spinning cone to rip the guts out of it,” McGuigan said.
Next up, Australian Vintage is working on a sparkling wine using a similar technique. “Sparkling’s the obvious thing. We do a Semillon Blanc at around 10% in Hunter
Valley. Squeeze that down to 5.5% and we’re going to be in with a chance.”
More generally, McGuigan added: “If we keep on doing the job with this stuff, what we will learn over the next three to four years is incredible, so we’ll be able to do this better and we’ll be able to make 10%-11% alcohol wines better.”
At present, wines that have had alcohol reduced by artificial means cannot be officially labelled as wine in the European Union. Some producers have resorted to the term “wine-based drink” on back labels. The UK government is lobbying to amend this law.
intage chief executive Neil McGuigan wants the UK government to introduce a new tax band to encourage the production of wines naturally lower in alcohol.Speaking to Harpers in London this week, McGuigan said a tax break for wines with an alcohol level of up to 10.5% or 11% abv would be a winner for all concerned.
His comments come as UK ministers seek to encourage supermarkets to stock more lower-alcohol wines as a way of reducing consumers’ overall alcohol consumption.
At present, all still wines above 5.5% and up to 15% abvare lumped into the same tax band in the UK.
“We could make fantastic wine at 10%-11% abv, so give us a chance,” McGuigan said. “The government wins because they still get the tax, the consumer will win because they still get something flavoursome, and the anti-alcohol lobby will win because they go from [an average] 13.5% to 10% abv. Everyone wins, so why aren’t they doing it?”
There is a precedent for such a policy in beer, where the UK government has created a three-tier tax system; up to and including 2.7% abv, up to 7.5% and above 7.5%.
However, for now, Harpers understands that a mid-tier tax band for wine is not something that the industry’s key trade body, the Wine & Spirit Trade Association, is
currently focusing its attention on.
At Australian Vintage, McGuigan is equally focused on the group’s new 5.5%-abv wines – a 2013 Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc – named Miranda Summer Light and
entering multiple retailers at a recommended £4.99 per 75cl bottle from this month.
“Around the world, everybody wants to have people drink less alcohol,” McGuigan said. “We’re not Nostradamus, it’s a trend you can smell everywhere and if we aren’t at the forefront of it, we will be left behind.”
Miranda Summer Light, which is bottled in the UK, has been two years in the making. “We could have released a 5.5% just like that, but I said we’re going to release the best 5.5% wine in the world,” said McGuigan.
Various techniques, such as picking warm climate grapes to reduce acidity and using lees contact to add “thickness” to the Sauvignon Blanc, mean that the wine came in at around 8% abv. Patented spinning-cone technology was then employed to reduce alcohol further to 5.5%.
“We didn’t start at 11% abv and strip it back. We said, we are not going to use the spinning cone to rip the guts out of it,” McGuigan said.
Next up, Australian Vintage is working on a sparkling wine using a similar technique. “Sparkling’s the obvious thing. We do a Semillon Blanc at around 10% in Hunter
Valley. Squeeze that down to 5.5% and we’re going to be in with a chance.”
More generally, McGuigan added: “If we keep on doing the job with this stuff, what we will learn over the next three to four years is incredible, so we’ll be able to do this better and we’ll be able to make 10%-11% alcohol wines better.”
At present, wines that have had alcohol reduced by artificial means cannot be officially labelled as wine in the European Union. Some producers have resorted to the term “wine-based drink” on back labels. The UK government is lobbying to amend this law.
