Shoppers threaten to boycott popular wine sold in Tesco and Sainsbury’s after alcohol levels are slashed

A POPULAR plonk sold in Tesco and other supermarkets has sparked fury after being weakened down – leaving fans demanding it be restored to its former strength.

McGuigan’s Black Label red wine was earlier this year labelled 12.5% and has now gone down to 10.5%, having previously been 13%.

But in its native country Australia it remains at 12.5% volume.

The change is thought to be due to the UK Government raising duty on booze, meaning scores of products have been made weaker to keep their cost down.

Furious customers have hit out at the move, including one who said this month on the Sainsbury’s website: “This has been one of my favourite wines for donkeys years. 

“They have now reduced the ABV from 12.5% to 10.5% and it is dreadful. I shall not be buying anymore.”

Another added: “Although Sainsbury still shows this as 12.5%, it’s now only 10.5% and bitter in taste compared to the 12.5% version.

“So although the price has increased the quality is not as good, we will be looking for an alternative from now on. “

The Sainsbury’s website has since been updated to reflect the lower ABV.

On Tesco.com, another buyer fumed: “Sorry McGuigan…What have you done!

“This used to be a delicious 12.5% red wine BUT…I see on my latest purchase it has dropped to a percentage of 10.5%. 

“It is no longer the wine that it used to be and sadly, I will not be buying any more. How to lose a customer eh!”

Manufacturer Australian Vintage has been approached for a comment.

It’s not the first time the wine producer has weakened a product in its Black Label range.

Last year its Chardonnay was lowered from 12.5% to 11%, and the Pinot Grigio down from 11.5% to 11%.

The lowering of many wines’ strengths to around 11% has followed the biggest hikes in booze duty in almost 50 years.

The duty paid on a bottle of still wine was pushed up by 20%, or 44p, based on an average alcohol strength of 12.5% ABV in August 2023.

Wines that are 11% currently have a £2.35 duty imposed on each bottle, whereas any between 11.5% and 14.5% command a flat tax rate of £2.67. 

For that reason many bottles were reduced to 11%.

But wine isn’t the only booze seeing its ABV go down in supermarkets.

Many weakened drinks are quietly selling for heightened prices due to the Government measures.

Supermarket beers have clearly undergone the “drinkflation” over the past couple of years, with producers also being incentivised to produce lower strength bevvies.

3.4% bevvies falling now fall into a lower tax bracket than 3.5% ones – and as a result Carlsberg Danish Pilsner and Grolsch Premium Pilsner have been reduced to 3.4%

In Tesco, Bottle of Bank’s Amber Ales went up in price from 89p to £1 in the middle of last year – despite the ABV also having gone down from 3.8% to 3.4%.

And while spirits are less effected by the ABV cuts, their prices are constantly on the up.

Gin and whisky makers previously slammed the Government for the increase to spirit duty, claiming it had a “disastrous effect”.

Liam Hurt from Circumstance Distillery said: “This rise in alcohol’s largest-ever contribution to inflation in 17 years, increasing costs for British producers and punishing a once-thriving sector.”

From February next year, duty rates will change again with a new system of taxation introduced to penalise higher strength drinks, and Labour recently pushed through the change in its October Budget.

Under the new regime, the single amount of duty paid on wines between 11.5 and 14.5 per cent ABV – £2.67 – will be replaced with increasingly higher payable amounts according to the strength of the wine.

That means a 75cl bottle of wine at 14.5 per cent ABV will see wine duty increase from £2.67 per bottle to £3.21, based on a predicted RPI rate of 3.65%.

But for an 11% bottle the duty payable will be much less at £2.43, an enormous difference of 78p. 

The resulting weakened plonks have been nicknamed “Rishi wines”, after the former Prime Minister who championed the reforms.

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