Ignorance is bliss

There is an old joke which defines an economist as someone who finds something which works in practice and then spends their life trying to prove it will work in theory. This definition could be used for those who predict wonderful/appalling outcomes for Brexit – we won’t really know the effects until well after March 2019.

However, there are a few things which we can certainly posit with some degree of certainty and one of those is that, whatever transition deal is made between the UK and the EU it is likely to cause the cost of wine to rise rather than fall. Why?

The apparent price of wine...

A few weeks ago John Wilson wrote a piece for the IrishTimes in relation to the price of wine in Ireland vis-à-vis other countries. In it, he stated that generally wine in Ireland is more expensive than other markets and he used Sweden, Canada, Australia, France, Denmark and the UK as comparators.

While it made decent reading I would take issue with a number of aspects – John failed to take into account economies of scale, different trade channels as well as not really looking at a simple question – is wine more or less expensive in Ireland now than ever before?

Cost of wine follow-ups

I saw a recent post in Harpers Online about the BBC Watchdog programme in which the redoubtable Oz Clarke attacked the so-called bargain prices available in many supermarkets. So I decided to look back at some of my posts on this topic, including one from January 3rd, 2011, where I highlighted certain "bargains" available in Tesco. It's worth noting that Elizabeth seems to be on half-price even now, nearly 2 years later!

The downslide...

Yesterday's Budgetary increase in duty on wine made me pause for thought. This is a summary what I thought: over the past year the wine retail sector has seen a reduction in gross profit of 28% and yesterday's duty increase could make that 42% in 2 years. How? Read on...

The cost of Fine Wine...

At last, an interesting article - Drinks Business reports today on a talk given by Jean-Michel Valette MW on the comparative costs of producing a Pauillac Cru Classe, a Sauternes and a Napa wine. Interesting data.

Wine tax follow up

As a quick follow up to pieces relating to wine prices and taxation here's an interesting article from the Sydney Morning Herald which notes a recommendation to increase taxes on cheaper wines but reduce them on high price wines. Note also the recommendations made in New Zealand! I still reckon this day will come so start planning!

How low can you go?

One of the best wine bargains I've seen this year is in Tesco, where Mount Pleasant's two excellent Hunter Valley wines, Elizabeth and Philip, are currently available at €10 per bottle, down from €19.99. These are, respectively, a classic semillon and shiraz and are wines of great quality, with Elizabeth certainly capable of aging for 20 years or more (good job there's no wine called Charles, then!). However, it's worth wondering how a wine can be sold at half-price and still be profitable.