Don't know what to make of this when I heard it at the end of the lunchtime news today.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67795075#
No idea of the intended market (if any) or how many wine makers from Europe will think it worth their while.
Knowing the UK we could see the pint becoming the new 750ml price wise, and then the 750ml bottle price going upwards.
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>>
>> Knowing the UK we could see the pint becoming the new 750ml price wise, and
>> then the 750ml bottle price going upwards.
>>
It is likely to increase costs throughout the manufacturing and sales process.
An extra set of labels to be produced, extra bottle sizes, so new machine tools etc.
More stock lines (SKUs) to be kept.
Are they as efficiently transported - so transport costs likely to rise.
It's a joke surely?
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"Are they as efficiently transported - so transport costs likely to rise."
I forget the details but I remember seeing a programme years ago which showed wine being brought in in bulk and packaged here (bottles, boxes). Might have been Australian, can't recall.
I will say that while it might be harmonising with the EU I don't recall seeing pints of wine anywhere! Usually standard 750 or 1l.
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>> I will say that while it might be harmonising with the EU I don't recall
>> seeing pints of wine anywhere! Usually standard 750 or 1l.
>>
Yes - one of my clients does just that. Containers full of plonk from around the world in huge plastic bags.
Still an issue re the bottles though and stock keeping and final delivery to stores.
Not sure the same process re delivery in bags works for sparkling wines.
Last edited by: zippy on Wed 27 Dec 23 at 21:54
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>> Yes - one of my clients does just that. Containers full of plonk from around
>> the world in huge plastic bags.
>>
...Encirc in Chester is on of the big ones. ISTR the Co-op has a similar operation, but I may be wrong.
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Wouldn't they then have to put that on the bottle - 'made in XXX - bottled in the UK'?
The same as food when the product is made abroad but packed in the UK.
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They do. Quite often just the postcode, or part thereof, to identify the bottling plant.
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What I find amusing is that many turned their noses up at wine in boxes, when effectively that's how much of it is delivered around the world!
Client calls themselves a wine producer. Own several brands and has contracted vineyards around the world producing product for them. It's shipped here and bottled here. They have no facilities - it's all subcontracted.
It's really a wine marketing company. Makes a packet though.
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>> Wouldn't they then have to put that on the bottle - 'made in XXX -
>> bottled in the UK'?
Yellow Tail from Australia is exactly like that. Last one we had, a red yesterday, bears a Chester postcode for the bottler. Others have been bottled in Italy.
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>> Yellow Tail from Australia is exactly like that. Last one we had, a red yesterday,
>> bears a Chester postcode for the bottler. Others have been bottled in Italy.
Earlier this year an acquaintance joined a group of us in Spain as we had a spare room in our large rental. He was sent out to the nearest supermercado ( Pepe La Sal) for a few bottles of vino blanco whilst I was prepping dinner….bear in mind he drinks a lot of wine in the uk, and P La Sal stock a very extensive range of Spanish wines.
He returned with bottles of Yellow Tail Chardonnay. FFS.
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Sent me off on a google search and found this fascinating history of the transportation of wine.
Who knew that the ancient city of Rome got through 20 million litres of wine per year or that the Celts invented the wooden barrel which replace the amphora?
vinepair.com/wine-blog/history-wine-transport-8000-years/
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"how many wine makers from Europe will think it worth their while."
Not many I would think, although a lot of wine is imported in bulk and bottled in the UK to save transport costs.
Wine used to be sold in in smaller bottles pre 1975 when the 750ml size became standard in the EU and the rest of the world followed suit
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...you can probably use beer as a benchmark.
AFAIK, the volume of bottles or cans in which beer is sold is not controlled by law. Despite the pint being the "traditional" volume for this, the vast majority of bottled/canned beer is sold in metric sizes (and by that I don't mean simply a pint labelled in metric manner, i.e. 568ml). 250ml, 330ml, and 440ml are very common.
Another pointless sop to the brexiteers.
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What’s the point of bottles smaller than 750ml.
Perfect size for 3 decent glasses, or 4 if abstemious.
And the 18 litre rule makes it easier to calculate your 24 bottles back into the U.K.
I don’t drink alcohol at home but brought back 6 bottles of decent Godello & Albariño to take to parties, the other 18 were orders taken for my neighbours.
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"Perfect size for 3 decent glasses, or 4 if abstemious."
It use to be six. Take a look at the size of a Victorian wine glass
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>> ...you can probably use beer as a benchmark.
>>
>> AFAIK, the volume of bottles or cans in which beer is sold is not controlled
>> by law. Despite the pint being the "traditional" volume for this, the vast majority of
>> bottled/canned beer is sold in metric sizes (and by that I don't mean simply a
>> pint labelled in metric manner, i.e. 568ml). 250ml, 330ml, and 440ml are very common.
Isn't the 440ml based on imperial sizes, much like beer sold in 568ml? I think 330ml is from the US fluid oz.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Wed 27 Dec 23 at 23:30
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I admit to being useless with wine.
It never tastes as nice at home as it does in a restaurant or bar.
Tend to prefer whites to reds (not found a palatable red at home).
Any tips on good wines, storage at home?
Ta.
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Have you tried different varieties by grape and origin? Any preferences?
Most mass market stuff isn't worth storing; buy and drink.
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When I am out, I usually enjoy a Sauvignon Blanc.
When I buy one from the supermarket, they have an aftertaste that the ones in the pub / restaurant don't.
By storage I mean a week or two, perhaps a couple of months at the most - unopened from buying to drinking - not laying down for the future - I really wouldn't know where to start with that.
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Mrs A bought a plastic rectangular bottle of wine from Waitrose last week. The plastic saves weight and the shape saves packing space. The wine was fine but, taking point aside, I don’t see any benefit to the customer unless it’s cheaper to buy.
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>> I don’t see any benefit to the customer unless it’s cheaper to buy.
>>
I don't know how "green" the plastic is, but a lighter bottle that allows more dense transportation could result in fuel saving, less hauliers on the road etc. - so hidden benefits?
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>> When I am out, I usually enjoy a Sauvignon Blanc.
>>
>> When I buy one from the supermarket, they have an aftertaste that the ones in
>> the pub / restaurant don't.
Other than experimenting with different brands, prices and countries of origin I'm at a loss as to how to solve that. Or expand your repertoire beyond Sauvignon Blanc!.
In terms of whites I find Alsace wines suit me well. As does the (similarly flavoured) Gruner Veltliner. When wines from the old Iron Curtain countries were first popular there were a few local grapes which made there way over here. Irsai Olver was a nice white. There were one or two reds as well. Either they're no longer sold through the big UK supermarkets or they've been replaced with the generic Cad Sauv, Merlot etc.
I do not like oaked Chardonnay much though that seems to be less common than it was.
>> By storage I mean a week or two, perhaps a couple of months at the
>> most - unopened from buying to drinking - not laying down for the future -
>> I really wouldn't know where to start with that.
If it's in a screw top, or for that matter a plastic stopper, I wouldn't worry overmuch about storing except keeping it at a reasonable temperature and out of sunlight. Stuff with a proper cork is probably best stored in a rack on its side but I wouldn't be going all out for a proper cellar type storage for a week or even a month or two.
One of my daughter's in laws lives in a massive house in Hampstead(ish) with a temperature controlled cellar and a stock of hundreds of bottles - some sort of investment.
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I don't drink a lot of white wine, but I don't like the taste of Sauvignon Blanc.
Tesco do a good Mosel Riesling, and a White Rioja at a very reasonable price, and these are what I drink, when appropriate.
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I drink many varieties of red wine, usually have a box of Merlot in the kitchen on the go as a default option.
But I have never found a white wine that I like. I don’t do sparkling wines.
Other than Colour is there a specific difference between the two? Why don’t I like white?
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No idea why you don’t like white wine but they are made in different ways, summarised here.
unravelingwine.com/red-wine-vs-white-wine/
You need to persevere. You might find that you need to spend more on finding a decent white wine than you normally spend on a red.. There’s lots of cheap reds out there there that are quaffable. That doesn’t apply to whites.
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I'm the opposite, can't get on with any red wine. They all have a funny after taste that's unpleasant. Don't mind some white wines, although I don't drink much wine perhaps equivalent to one bottle a year.
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One bottle a year! I think you’re well within the government guidelines!
We buy three or four bottle a week on average.
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I drink other types of alcohol, just not fussed about wine.
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>> I drink other types of alcohol, just not fussed about wine.
>>
Screen wash ?
It does vaguely resemble Bombay Sapphire.
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'But I have never found a white wine that I like.'
A couple of white lines might sort you out.
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Champagne used to be sold in pint bottles. Frankly a half bottle is too small for two people and a full bottle too big for two - as an aperitif.
Champagne needs pint bottles.
m.drinksint.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/6469/Bring_back_the_imperial_pint_for_champagne.html
I have heard that Pol Roger are less enthusiastic now than they were. It’s a shame.
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I’ve always wondered what the reason and motivation for Brexit was. Now I understand. It was to allow the rich to buy champagne in appropriately sized bottles. A mystery solved.
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...actually, I think it was to enable the sale of champagne in slightly smaller and cheaper bottles, to allow the less-prosperous red-wall voters to appropriately celebrate each and every other Brexit "win".
Given that thinking, you can see why the producers are wary of the level of demand.
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Yes. It was to allow us to regain our sovereignty.
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>> Yes. It was to allow us to regain our sovereignty.
Which, of course, we'd never really surrendered; just shared to mutual advantage.
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But we weren't allowed Blue Passports. Where's the mutual advantage in that? My red one has five years to run on it still. Do you think I should buy a new one?
I proudly go through the non-EU channel at the airport, and hate to think people might see me with a red passport and confuse me with Johnny Foreigner.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Sun 31 Dec 23 at 14:17
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>> But we weren't allowed Blue Passports.
Nothing stopped us having Blue Passports, Black Passports or ones that are Sky Blue Pink with Yellow dots.
Burgundy was an option WE, or rather our government, chose.
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>> Burgundy was an option WE, or rather our government, chose.
Bad choice
Isn't Burgundy in France? And don't the inhabitants put their wine in foreign metric bottles?
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. Do you think I should buy a
>> new one?
Several friends of mine have had to acquire new passports in the past 6 months. They either lose them or they end up in the washing machine. They’re a careless lot.
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>> Several friends of mine have had to acquire new passports in the past 6 months.
>> They either lose them or they end up in the washing machine. They’re a careless
>> lot.
>>
I would have thought the new ones would survive a spin in the washing machine. Mind that a good reminder to look for my passports.
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>> I would have thought the new ones would survive a spin in the washing machine.
>> Mind that a good reminder to look for my passports.
>>
They didn’t survive several washes.
I believe that the border control stamps were a little smudged.....shame that.
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Sent my passport back today for a renewal.... in all the time I've used it it only had two stamps inside both from our trip to France in June 2023.
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Got it back today - not bad and they sent me loads of updates.... old one received.... new one printed.... sent out for delivery... new one is a bit of an odd thing - loads of pictures of my mug all through it, cover is very flimsy compared to old style - I guess it just serves a purpose.
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>> was to allow the rich to buy champagne in appropriately sized bottles. A mystery solved.
>>
Wait til 'spoons start selling pints of prosecco, fizzy wine for all!
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It almost came to pass that you couldn't get prosecco in JDWs. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44465657
Whether it ever did or not, they actually do a reasonably priced smallish bottle of prosecco, as SWMBO will attest.
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 31 Dec 23 at 15:59
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They still sell erdinger alcohol free in bottles. Not sure about the rest.
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>> It almost came to pass that you couldn't get prosecco in JDWs. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44465657
>>
>>
>> Whether it ever did or not, they actually do a reasonably priced smallish bottle of
>> prosecco, as SWMBO will attest.
>>
Don't forget, he is Sir Tim Martin now, bit of respect, if you please. Plus good food and well kept beer all at very reasonable prices.
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One for the wine connoisseurs - zippy
