Until late 2007 the pound sterling was worth about 1.47 euros. It then dropped sharply to about 1.25 euros by early 2008. After a further slip it has consolidated at around 1.19 euros in mid 2009.
Early in 2009, duty rose from £16.05 per case/£1.34 per bottle to £20.25 per case/£1.69 per bottle.
So a wine you could buy for £4.49 in 2007 would have cost £5.00 (probably £4.99) in 2008 and £5.59 (probably £5.69) today. That’s a rise of 24% and it completely changes what you can expect at any price point.
In the left hand column of the table below I show the value of the wine itself, at 2007 prices. The other three columns show how the price of a bottle of that same wine has changed after duty, VAT and the fall in the pound.
At the bottom of the price range the taxman is doing a lot better than you are.
Whatever you thought you could buy for £3.99 now costs £4.99, the £4.99 bottle now costs £6.20 and the £5.99 bottle costs £7.49. Clearly the retailers have had problems maintaining price points in the face of shifting wine prices and taxes which probably explains the disappearance of some good-value wines and the downgrading of others.
| Wine itself at eu1.47/£ | Bottle mid 2007 | Bottle mid 2008 | Bottle mid 2010 |
| £0.69 | £2.39 | £2.59 | £2.99 |
| £1.04 | £2.79 | £2.99 | £3.49 |
| £1.21 | £2.99 | £3.24 | £3.74 |
| £1.63 | £3.49 | £3.83 | £4.35 |
| £2.06 | £3.99 | £4.42 | £4.97 |
| £2.48 | £4.49 | £5.00 | £5.59 |
| £2.91 | £4.99 | £5.59 | £6.21 |
| £3.33 | £5.49 | £6.18 | £6.82 |
| £3.76 | £5.99 | £6.77 | £7.44 |
| £4.61 | £6.99 | £7.94 | £8.68 |
| £5.46 | £7.99 | £9.12 | £9.91 |
| £6.31 | £8.99 | £10.30 | £11.15 |
| £7.16 | £9.99 | £11.47 | £12.38 |
| £8.02 | £10.99 | £12.65 | £13.62 |
| £8.87 | £11.99 | £13.82 | £14.85 |
