Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she plans to take to support small wine companies following changes to alcohol duty rates.

Following the end of the wine easement on 1 February some administrative work will be required for small wine companies, due to the need to make different calculations for wines of different strengths between 11.5% and 14.5% ABV to establish the level of duty. This extra step is one that was considered in detail during the consultation period. 

To reduce small wine companies burdens, HMRC will accept the ABV on the label of the bottle for the calculation of duty. Whilst the new system of wine labelling allows product labelling to 0.1 per cent ABV, this is optional, and wine can still be labelled to the nearest 0.5 per cent ABV.