Wine-lite at Pizza Express

Buckingham Schenk is helping the UK’s annual January bid for dietary virtue with the launch of a lower alcohol range in collaboration with Pizza Express.

The high street restaurant chain is now complementing its lower calorie Leggera pizza range with a Leggera Pinot Bianco 2009 and Leggera Sangiovese 2009, both produced by Schenk Italia.

Each wine has an alcohol content below 10% thanks to early harvesting. In order to ensure weight-conscious diners do not have to compromise on flavour, the Sangiovese has been blended with a small amount of very ripe Sicilian Merlot.

Jon Pepper, commercial director at Buckingham Schenk, said: “Lower alcohol wines have been an increasingly important discussion-point for both the trade and the consumer over the last few months.”

The demand for these wines suggests that consumers are loathe to simply cut back on the amount they usually drink with a meal, preferring instead to encourage producers to tweak nature’s path until it conforms to market caprice.

The new wines are available in 375 Pizza Express branches at a bottle price of £16.55, but also by the 175ml and 250ml glass.

Gabriel Savage, 12.01.10