The cost of a bottle of wine

An article in the Guardian (6 June 2008) attempts to explain where your money goes when you buy a bottle of wine in a restaurant, especially with the latest increase in UK excise duty (and threats of more to come):

This week, one of Bordeaux’s more colourful wine producers lifted the lid on how a bottle of wine bought for £1 from a cooperative producer ends up costing £14 or £15 in a UK restaurant.
In a bid to highlight the detrimental impact a recent duty rise is having on the wine trade, Gavin Quinney, the owner of Château Bauduc, set out exactly who gets what out of the £14 you pay for a bottle of house wine.
The figures will certainly surprise many regular restaurant goers, or home wine buyers. After storage and distribution costs are deducted, the restaurant and wine merchant have added their mark-up - and more importantly the government has taken its duty and VAT - only £1 is left to pay the producer who worked all year to make and bottle the wine.

Whilst I agree that UK prices are ridiculously high compared to most of Europe, my experience suggests that the the wine merchant’s mark-up is much less than that of the hotel or restaurant. I well recall that just a few years ago a nice, but unexceptional little wine which we retailed at £4.99 was on a local hotel’s wine list for £14.99!! When you also factor in that the hotel would have paid significantly less than the retail price, and will have expected generous payment terms etc, you will understand why we stopped supplying hotels and restaurants, and why even now I resent the prices which hotels and restaurants charge for their wines.
Of course prices of European wines in particular have suffered due to the poor exchange rate against the euro, compounded by the increased cost of fuel for transporting the wine, and the cost of glass. So Gordon Brown is not the only villain, but his punitive tax has had a serious impact on the wine trade.

I do agree that often it is the winemaker who gets a oiir return on their hard work, investment and the risk involved in producing the bottle in the first place. It also explains why many European vineyards sell direct to the public, and some sell a significant proportion of their wine at the vineyard gate.

The best approach is to BYO - bring your own - and either choose a BYO restaurant or ask to pay corkage, which provided it is not exorbitant (which it can be) will still mean you get better value for money and a better wine. But beware, there are wide variations between what non-BYO restaurants will charge from vert little to £10 or more - and usually more for Champagne.