Tesco shoppers slam reduced wine ABVs

Consumers shopping for wine at Tesco have let rip in the comments section of the retailer’s website, as they fume about popular wine brands “quietly” reducing their alcohol levels.

As db has reported, rising duty import costs in the UK, based on the level of alcohol a wine contains, is causing some producers to consciously lower the alcohol levels of their product beneath the 11% threshold.

Last year, Concha y Toro announced it would bring the ABV on its leading Isla Negra brand down to as low as 10.5% from 12%.

“When someone only has £5 to spend on a bottle, you have got to really work to see how you can mitigate these costs,” said Simon Doyle, managing director at the UK office for Concha y Toro, before commenting, “And the only way to do that is to reduce your duty exposure – no-one has the efficiencies to do it any other way.”

Blossom Hill Rosé has also decreased from 11% to 10.5% during the last year, while Hardys Stamp Shiraz Cabernet (currently £5.25 in Tesco) has been reduced from 13.5% to 11%.

Consumers unimpressed

Now Tesco shoppers have taken to the comments section of the retailer’s website to express their unhappiness with some of the resultant wines stocked on Tesco shelves.

“I wouldn’t mind if they still offered the original formula for more money but they have taken our choice away, not told us and are now trying to pass off a watered down version of the wine we loved,” commented one consumer, who revealed they had switched allegiances to Blossom Hill from a Gallo rosé, “when Gallo reduced their Zinfandel from 11% to 8%” and “ruined the taste”. Continuing the shopper wrote: “Not any more – Blossom Hill has ruined theirs now also.”

Another said: “Forget it Tesco, tastes nasty, watery and not an ounce of body to it … very disappointed in Blossom Hill.”

Yet another wine fan gave Hardys Stamp Shiraz Cabernet a rating of just one star out of a possible five “because the ABV has quietly been reduced from 13.5% to 11.5%. Used to buy regularly, never ever again.”

A further Tesco shopper warned fellow consumers: “Completely changed this wine – it’s no longer 13.5 % but 11%. Please bring back the original.”

However others acknowledged the lower ABV without prejudice. “I found it very acceptable for the price. Slightly lower alcohol content compared to other red wines, which is a bonus for a mid-week tipple”, one commenter wrote of the new Hardys Stamp Shiraz Cabernet.

Somewhat bizarrely, one commenter admitted to preferring the Hardys wine at its previous higher ABV of 13.5% , despite regularly “watering it down” due to its former strength.

“A month ago, this was a fairly pleasant wine. At 13.5% it was a tad strong but I used to water it down slightly and it remained a nice evening tipple. However, I have no idea if the recent change in taxes on alcohol have had anything to do with the change, but it’s now 11 percent! This is not great for a red and I no longer enjoy it.”

Not all wine producers plan to make a drastic change, as Morrisons wine sourcing manager Charles Cutteridge alluded to when he told db in August that the UK is “the only country currently trying to re-engineer wines for this reason” and suggested that it doesn’t make sense for a winemaker to change its whole approach in the vineyard “for just one market.”

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