The UK drinks industry is waiting to be hit with a mandatory code of practice, targeting irresponsible retail practices, after attempts at self-regulation have insufficiently impressed the government.  The plans will form a core strand of the government’s strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm, including binge-drinking and under-age drinking.

The mandatory conditions are not yet known, and consultation with industry on the code is taking place during the first quarter of 2009.  Proposals include:

• Banning irresponsible promotions in supermarkets and off licences. ‘Three for the price of two’ promotions have been mentioned in despatches, as have ‘all you can drink for £10′ and ‘women drink for free’ promotions.
• Requiring on-premises to offer a minimum glass size, such as 125ml (which used to be the ’standard’ measure a generation ago).
• requiring that consumers are able to see unit content of alcohol when they buy it
• ensuring that customers in supermarkets are not required to buy very large amounts of a product to take advantage of price discounts

The pricing and promotion of alcoholic drinks has been under a lot of scrutiny, though minimum pricing of alcohol has moved off the government’s agenda … whilst there is an economic downturn, so the idea is just shelved, not completely ruled out.

Licensing authorities will have new powers to stamp on problems in their areas, allowing specific premises and promotions to be targeted. Proposals include:

• limiting the sale of low-price alcohol if this is linked to local disorder, for example being confiscated from under 18s
• banning promotions such as happy hours, drinking games or organised pub crawls
• limiting the display or advertising of discounted price offers.

It is speculated that consumers who have choice restricted in their local stores may travel to neighbouring towns where such restrictions may not exist.

Promotional sales in supermarkets have been estimated at more than 50% of alcohol sold, though a University of Sheffield study into the effects of alcohol pricing and promotion, published by the Department of Health, found “a total ban on off-trade

discounting is estimated to reduce consumption by -2.8%”. The report also said tighter restrictions affected wine consumption more than other alcoholic beverages.

Gavin Partington, head of communications for The Wine and Spirit Trade Association, who are taking part in the consultation on behalf of drinks industries, said: “co-regulation remains an idea which is being discussed with government – the notion that we, as an industry, agree the content of a code with government which is then enforced in various different ways – by the industry, by local government, by central government.”

The WSTA also point out that existing legislation is not being enforced, for example, in England and Wales in 2006, only 8 people under 18 were taken to court for trying to purchase alcohol and only 11 were reprimanded.

Work already being done is having an effect. Latest figures for the government’s £10m ‘know your limits’ campaign show that 21% of people now know there are 3 units of alcohol in a large wine glass, up from 6%.

In May, a 12-week consultation period for the mandatory code was announced.

The UK already has the highest level of wine tax in the EU, and the fourth-highest spirit tax (after Sweden, Ireland and Finland). Yet, as in Australia, the UK is coming under the cosh for levels of binge drinking, under-age drinking, middle-class over-consumption etc. This is despite Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs figures showing total alcohol consumption fell from 9.4 to 8.9 litres per capita from 2004 to 2006.

The Department of Health says the social cost of alcohol abuse is between £17.7bn and £25.1bn. They calculate the cost of alcohol harm to the National Health Service to be £2.7bn.

In July the UK government published a consultation document, which is widely thought may lead to greater legislation over the alcohol drinks industries. But Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of the UK’s drinks industries lobbying body, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has said he thinks that before more legislation is introduced, the existing legislation could be put to better use, saying it’s not being fully enforced.

The size of glass is a significant measure being looked at. Twenty odd years ago the ’standard wineglass size’ in the UK was 125ml.  In many mainstream on trade outlets the smallest wine measure has become a 175ml glass, with 250ml being common or even the only size available.

One 250ml glass of Aussie shiraz, one of our favourite tipples, at 14% is 3.5 units of alcohol (a UK unit is 8g of alcohol compared to an Australian unit of 10g). Regardless of international diversity in measuring units, 3.5 units in the UK means that any woman drinking this single 250ml glass is consuming nearly double her recommended daily allowance.  Under some definitions, she is thus a binge-drinker, much like the recent Australian reports of guidelines suggesting two pints doth a binge drinker make.  

Other measures under review include restricting or banning ‘happy hours’; restricting ‘loss-leader’-type promotions on alcohol where the alcohol beverage is sold below cost in supermarkets to pull in consumers, who then complete their ‘big shop’ in the store; restricting the location and siting of alcohol in store, as well as things that the industry say are already growing practice under their self regulations codes, such as point of sale information highlighting health warnings, unit labelling and recommended drinking guidelines.  In May this year the UK government launched a £10 million campaign specifically about units of alcohol, and the industry has launched a ‘Know your drinks’ campaign to run in conjunction, with point of sale detailing, for example “Know your drinks…a 125ml glass of 12% ABV wine is 1.5 units.” 

Consultation (http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_086412) on the government’s renewed alcohol strategy closes in October, just three months after it opened, giving some clue as to the speed at which the government is working on the alcohol issue. The price of alcohol is coming under particular scrutiny with a Sheffield University review into the effects of alcohol pricing, promotion and harm due to make its final report at the end of the year.

Awareness is gradually growing of how much alcohol is in a bottle of wine.  It used to be that wine alcohol was an integral, seamless, unnoticed element of a wine’s overall flavour, but wine is becoming increasingly alcoholic, to the extent that ‘alcohol burn’ is becoming apparent. This kicks out of balance the equilibrium of a wine and can also interfere with that sacred food and wine matching territory.

One of the main trends over the last quarter century is to leave grapes on the vine longer, so they ripen more. This means sugars increase, tannins are fatter and fleshier, and it also means acidities are lower (as sugars increase in ripening grapes, acids decrease).  With more sugar, and with more efficient yeast, alcohols have been rising, up to 2% in the last couple of decades. When Steve Kirkham, head sommelier, at The Don Restaurant was asked by one of his customers for a Bordeaux with just 12%, he could not find a single bottle in the restaurant’s cellar. The norm for Bordeaux used to be 11.5%.

The evidence is indisputable. Bordeaux’s Château Ausone has charted its alcohol from 12.5% in 1982 to 13.9% in 2002. In the last thirty years of the 20^th century California wine rose from 12.5% to an even more heady 15% alcohol.  And zinfandels are usually considerably higher than this.

Alongside these higher alcohols, the fruit can move out of a fresh, primary fruit spectrum, into the jammy, baked fruit, prune, and raisin spectrum.  Combine this with lower acidity and greater tannin ripeness, and wines can start to taste a bit blousy, certainly alcoholic, up to 16+% in some instances, and often with this style, steeped in sweet new oak. The combined effect of this is to first assault, then numb, the palate, for a good couple of minutes or so after the wine has been tasted or drunk.  None of which is great for making the perfect food match, and whilst we tend to be more forgiving of higher alcohol in red wines, the end of the line for our tolerance may be in sight.

Wine should always be balanced.  If any of the components – acid, alcohol, tannin, oak, fruit – stand out from the others, then the wine may be out of balance. More than almost any other alcoholic beverage, with wine, the alcohol should not be noticed. If alcohol is noticed on the palate, usually as heat, or as a slight burning sensation, then it is standing out.  Part of the joy of fine spirits is that warming, spicy burn as the spirit slides down the throat.  This sensation is complete anathema to wine, yet it is being noticed on an increasing number of wines, arguably mostly from the new world, which tends to be hotter to start with, where the trend for ‘long hang times’ arose (leaving grapes on the vine while sugars accumulate), where the preference for ’super-ripe’, highly toasted wines, with acidity that’s softer and suppler than the firm backbone it more traditionally provides in the old world.

In cooler, marginal climes, and those with wide diurnal temperature variations, extra hang time doesn’t necessarily cause excessively high alcohols. Cool nights help the grape slow sugar accumulation and retain natural acid.  And where the days are warm, but not hot, sugars accumulate appropriately but not excessively. This is one simple reason why old world wines are, as a very general rule of thumb, better food wines.  Of course, there are clearly some old world regions with the warmth of climate that produces high alcohol wines such at the still wines of the Douro in Portugal, and Priorat in Spain.

While it may be early days, getting producers to make wines with lighter alcohols that are still balanced is akin to turning around a tanker – it takes time. There’s only one vintage a year.  Mark Soudah, London on-trade director, for wine suppliers, Enotria said: “restauranteurs are more aware of alcohol levels in wine than they were before. If a wine is too alcoholic or rich, there is an issue with it going with certain styles of food.”

Kirkham is aware of the negative aspects of high alcohol in the dining experience, especially with the “increasing sophistication of food flavours produced by chefs at the top end and in gastro-pubs” he said, adding that alcohol puts a blanket over food flavours.  He said: “we do blind tastings at room temperature to pick up on alcohol burn – the alcohol becomes more prominent at room temperature”. This is clearly an avoidance tactic – Kirkham said: “heavy alcohol often overpowers the delicacy of the food the chefs are preparing”, making it difficult to find dishes that can be paired with such wines. He said: “we can chill wine a couple of degrees more to make sure the alcohol is not showing too much for guests”, but this is merely treating the symptom and not the cause.

Diners are becoming increasingly aware of the level of alcohol in their glass. Kirkham said: “we’re promoting wine by the glass, we have selection of wines to go with food”. This way, he says, customers can select a range of wines with differing alcohol levels.

Some restaurants are going down the route of organising the wine list according to wine styles, from fresh and fruity, through light and crisp, on to the heavier styles.  In some cases this may not necessarily be a good thing as customers begin to avoid the ‘heavy’ styles. But Soudah commented: “I’ve not been asked by a restaurant to have a lower alcohol wine on the list, [but] some more educated customers are looking to have better balanced wines on their lists.”