THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 154, February 2026
Dog of the month: Daisy Kernowine. Falmouth
Duty forces up wine prices, but not everything is dearer A number of suppliers have managed to freeze or even reduce pre-Budget pricing on some wines they offer to indies
W
ine merchants are facing
unwelcome price hikes from
suppliers this month as alcohol
duty rises by 3.66% in line with inflation. But some importers are not applying
increases across the board – and are even cutting the trade price for some wines.
Tony Wellings, owner of The Antipodean
Sommelier, says: “Following three years of damaging government-driven duty
increases on alcoholic beverages, we have decided, in our 15th year of trading, to
absorb the current duty increase of 3.66%
on all of our wines for the whole of 2026.
our customers with great wines, at natural
We just feel that enough is enough, and we
South American specialist Ucopia Wines
“In addition, we will not be implementing
any cost-driven increases from wineries.
need to support our customers with some stability, whilst we take the responsibility of battling cost increases internally.
“Yes, we have managed to negate some
of the upward pressure on costs through
discussions with our winery partners and favourable exchange rates, but this for us
is a tactical choice. We believe that holding prices for this year, alongside delighting
ABVs, is the right thing to do. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.”
has a similar policy. “We will not be passing these increases on across the board,” says owner Laurie Webster.
“Due to a sustained period of favourable
trends in exchange rates against the US dollar, we are able to ameliorate these
increases in order to keep our prices stable. In the case of our South American wines, the vast majority will not change price.
North London wine merchant and bakery Authentique has rebranded its shops as it considers expansion into the heart of the capital. Full story on page 9.