Nooit geweten dat er verschil bestaat tussen British en English wine. Maar de Shropshirestar heeft het nu uitgelegd. De ene wijn is goedkoop en komt van druivensap van buiten het eiland. En de andere is volstrekt ‘eigen teelt’’. De Britten, die vooral uit zijn op goedkope wijnen, kiezen voor vermeend eigen wijn, die dat toch niet is.

Cheap made-in-Britain wine booming

Sales of cheap wine made in Britain from imported grape juice are booming due to rising prices in the traditional import market.

But UK wine producers say there is still widespread confusion among customers about the difference between this “British” wine and “English wine”, which is made from grapes grown in this country.

British wine is not made from home-grown grapes. It is fermented and bottled in the UK from imported grape juice.

According to a report in The Grocer magazine, this means it has not been hit as hard by currency fluctuations as traditional imported wines have. It therefore can be found for as little as £2.99 a bottle, or two for £5, and sales values have grown more than 50% in the past year.

The market in British wine is now worth £23 million a year, although even when combined with low-alcohol versions it still only accounts for 1.6% of off-sales.

The firm CWF has said its British wine brand Silver Bay Point has seen volume sales up 657% year-on-year.

Paul Shelton, category insights manager at wine importer PLB, said rising prices among imported wine at the bottom end of the price scale meant the industry risked losing price-sensitive wine consumers to other drink categories.

He said: “The introduction of British-made wine has directly substituted the sub-£3 wine category with what appears to the consumer as a generic new world wine.”

But Julia Trustram Eve, marketing manager for English Wine Producers, said: “I have seen instances where a consumer wanting to be patriotic has picked up British wine but didn’t understand the difference between it and English and was disappointed. This is something we have to continue to address.”