Experts suggest that Brexit is forcing up wine prices
Leading economists have suggested that the price of wine in Britain could be 22 per cent higher by the year 2025. This is set to have the strongest impact on cheaper bottles of wine which tend to hover around the £5 a bottle mark. But supplier Totem Wines suggests they could see their high-quality products become more attractive as they provide better value.
By sourcing produce from independent growers in traditional wine regions of France and Italy, Totem supplies fine wines and could stand to benefit from their quality and more personal provenance should the cost of importing wine continue to rise.
The rise in price has been attributed to the resultant slowdown in economic growth and less favourable exchange rates which increases costs in the bulk import of wine, in a paper published by Australian economists Kym Anderson and Glyn Wittwer.
This is bad news for the global wine market as a whole: Britain makes up almost a fifth of worldwide wine imports and EU producers alone are expected to take a hit to the tune of around £900m as demand falls. About one-quarter of wine exports from the EU find their way into UK restaurants, supermarket shelves and wholesalers, so the results of Brexit - whether a hard or soft arrangement is made - will have a significant bearing on which way this trend goes.
As the average bottle bought in British shops rises, Totem Wines believe it may be that consumers continue to alter their purchasing habits: finer wines from lesser known producers could become more attractive as store-bought bottles begin to provide less value.
"We have always supported small wine producers from France and Italy with an emphasis on the artisan. The best quality comes from independent suppliers who are focusing less on volume and more on the process," said a company spokesperson.
"If wines are going to be the subject of a tariff after Brexit negotiations are completed, then we hope that consumers will start looking to wine that gives much better value — bottles that perhaps cost slightly more but which far surpass cheaper bottles in quality."
Some experts predict that the hotel and restaurant market will keep the wine flowing but the trends of the market can be hard to predict. Whether they will stick with commercial suppliers or switch to independently produced fine wines supplied by the likes of Totem remains to be seen, but consumers will ultimately drive these decisions.