Wines of the Week

I wrote last week about the need for a reduction in our excise duty on wine which is by far the highest in the EU and I don’t want to labour the point but do please mention it to your TD if you get the chance as budget day is looming. 

The wine industry here employs around 1,100 people directly and supports several thousand more in the country’s 13,000 restaurants, pubs and retailers. Wine sales are slightly up this year thanks to the upturn in the economy and Chile is still the most popular country with just over a quarter of all wine we buy coming from this small and incredibly consistent wine producer.

Australia comes second but this is almost all inexpensive supermarket wine as the strength of the Australian dollar has made quality Australian wines a more difficult sell. France comes third at just under 13% with Spain hot on its heels at 12.3% followed by Italy at 9.7%.