Taxes on sparkling wine, draught beer and cider will be cut under the new liquor tax system due to start in 2023, but higher on hard drinks such as red wine, the chancellor said in the Budget.

According to the Wine and Spirits Trade Association (WSTA), if wine were taxed in this way based on alcohol concentration, then 70% of wines, still or sparkling, would go up in price, 80% of still wines Prices will also go up, 95% red wine and 100% fortified wine.

Tim Curtis, Treasurer of Direct Wines, told the BBC's programme that under the current system there are three tax rates on wine: one for still wine, one for slightly higher sparkling wine and one for wine. The kind is fortified wine. .

The WSTA has calculated that implementing the changes will cost the wine trade around £250 million a year.

"The cost of wine will increase"

He also said wine association members would pay more for their wines as a result of the proposed changes.

Most still wines sold by the association, as well as the UK as a whole, have an ABV of 11.5% and above.

"That's about 95 percent of our sales," he said. "And we estimate that with the new tax, customers will end up paying an extra £2 million a year in duty, so the cost of wine will increase because the tax will increase."

BBC News. 2022. Wine drinkers face higher prices and less choice, firm warns.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60195871