Cider is Wine, a trade alliance promoting 100% fruit (ie, not from concentrate) ciders and perries, has written to the chancellor suggesting a shake-up of the duty system.

Cider is Wine

It proposes a new sector of British heritage alcoholic drinks  made from 100% juice (grape, apple, pear, or other fruits) and not from concentrate in order, with support from the government, to bring pride to a sector for outstanding British artisan drinks.

It writes: “Whilst English wine has made great strides, it’s a small category which has to fight the much more established and well-known industries from Europe, Australia, and the Americas on the same terms.

“British cider, on the other hand, has the largest production and consumer market in the world of its kind, with a massive British heritage. Indeed, the British invented the ‘Champagne method’ in terms of cider production well before Dom Perignon set sight on winemaking premises in northern France! And yet we have managed to conspire to lead a whole sector to be the lowest value creator of any alcoholic drink in almost every market around the world. So not a great British legacy!”

Cider is Wine is suggesting a duty system that’s based on the current cider rates in order to encourage trade in an appropriate ‘less but better’ framework which encourages artisanship, quality, and provenance-led products, with a view to developing a sector that has the potential to become the most respected in the world. “A situation that’s surely entirely appropriate for the markets we want to trade with,” says the group.

“Bottles of British-produced wines and ciders in every British diplomatic mission around the world can help soften the approaches of many other British businesses to much bigger export opportunities, becoming the envy and perceived leader that we strive to be seen as.”