Retailers including Majestic, Laithwaites, The Wine Society and Cambridge Wine Merchants are among those with a poster campaign warning of the hikes. Excise duty is currently £2.67 on all wines between 11.
5% ABV (alcohol by volume) and 14.5% ABV. This so-called easement was introduced as part of Rishi Sunak's new duty system last year, but is sent to end on February 1, 2025, .
UK SME wine business have joined an industry-wide campaign warning customers of the effects of ending the easement on 1st Feb 2025 – including price hikes. Keep the easement at the budget - spare SMEs significant increases in cost & red tape . How will wine duty work from February 2025? The current easement will be replaced with up to 30 different payable amounts according to the strength of the wine.
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association says that for a bottle of wine at 14.5% ABV. This will see wine duty increase from £2.
67 a bottle to £3.09. The association says the new government "has the opportunity to commit to keeping the easement at the budget on 30 October".
However, at the time of writing, there has been no indication yet that Labour is prepared to meet this demand. In an email to customers earlier this month, Majestic and Cambridge Wine Merchants warned: "At the time they launched the policy, the Treasury had a stated aim to create a duty system that would be simpler and fairer for wine businesses like ours to administer. "Yet, as an industry, we firmly believe the system that is set to .