Deficient grape harvest to push up wine prices

Poor grape harvests around the world could push up the cost of an average wine bottle in the UK by up to £1, according to specialist wine retailer, Majestic Wine chief. The average wine bottle sold in the UK which cost around £5 which could rise by £1.

According to Steve Lewis, he expected wine lovers to notice increases mostly in supermarkets which would account for three-quarters of UK wine sales, due to a sharp drop in global production.

The dominance of supermarkets has cut the average bottle of wine sold in Britain costs around £5.

Last month, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine had warned that the poor grape harves this year was due to extreme weather which could lead to a worldwide wine shortage. Winemakers in Argentina as also big producers including Italy and France had all suffered with the organisation having forecast a 6 per cent drop in global production to 248.2 million hectolitres – the lowest level since the seventies.

Meanwhile, Britain's record rainfall had left wineries highly short on grapes leading the country's biggest wine producer, Nyetimber, scrapping its entire harvest.

However, Majestic's competitive strength lay in the fact its average selling price was £7.46, which made it an important sales channel for producers with more expensive wines to sell.

Majestic reported a 4 per cent increase in profits to £9.2 million for the six months to the end of September on surge in online orders. Like-for-likes were up only 0.6 per cent as wet weather saw a large number of outdoor events cancelled and cases of wine ordered by enthusiastic organisers returned to its stores.

Three years ago Majestic cut the minimum purchase from 12 bottles to six in a bid to encourage customers to shop with them more frequently. According to the retailer the ploy had worked with the number of customers in its database who had purchased in the last 12 months rising over 11 per cent to 594,000.