Popular wine brands have secretly slashed alcohol content AND hiked prices – ‘It’s drink-flation’ say horrified customers
Wine lovers are being short changed in the latest round of ‘drinkflation’.
Drinkers have been shocked to find out that massively popular Blossom Hill wines have dramatically reduced the alcohol percentage of their products.
But, despite the widely sold drinks becoming weaker, the price has has increased.
A 75cl bottle of Blossom Hill White Zinfandel was 11 per cent alcohol two years ago, and cost £5.25.
Today it’s £5.75 and its strength has gone down to 8.5 per cent. One consumer described it as a ‘glorified Shloer’ — an alcohol-free fizzy grape drink.
Meanwhile the brand’s Soft & Fruity Red Wine has been reduced from 12.5 to 10.5 per cent — and they aren’t the only wines that have been weakened.
Hardys Stamp Shiraz Cabernet, for example, was reduced from 13.5 per cent to 11 per cent in 2023, while the cost has risen from £5 to £5.25.
The change comes after the previous Government upped taxes on stronger booze, meaning wine, beer and spirits are now sold with less alcohol in them.
Wine lovers are being short changed in the latest round of ‘drinkflation’ (file image)
A 75cl bottle of Blossom Hill White Zinfandel was 11 per cent ABV two years ago, and cost £5.25
Hardys Stamp Shiraz Cabernet, for example, was reduced from 13.5 per cent to 11 per cent in 2023, while the cost has risen from £5 to £5.25
Experts have said that the trend for reducing alcohol content is likely to have a small positive public health impact.
‘Only people who are drinking for the specific purpose of getting drunk are being short-changed,’ says Colin Agus, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield and expert in alcohol consumption.
Writing after popular beer brand Heineken announced similar money saving measures last year he said: ‘Reducing the alcoholic strength… is in the commercial interests [of manufacturers].
‘But it also aligns with trends in consumer demand and is likely to be a benefit to public health by reducing overall alcohol consumption.
‘It’s incredibly rare for these usually competing interests to be pulling in the same direction, so perhaps the current trend is something worth celebrating for almost everybody.’
The change from Blossom Hill comes as wine takes over beer as Brits drinking.
However last year the World Health Organisation warned that there was no safe level of alcohol consumption.
The WHO estimates that excessive alcohol consumption kills 3million people around the world each year.
It is estimated that over 9,000 people a year die an alcohol related death in the UK.
Writing in The Lancet Public Health, a team of WHO experts last year said that ‘alcohol consumption’ as a whole was behind the toll.
They said ‘alcohol consumers should be objectively informed about the risks of cancer and other health conditions associated with alcohol consumption.’
The NHS recommends people do not drink more than 14 units a week and to spread them over three days or more.
Ian Hamilton, an addiction expert at the University of York, told MailOnline that the WHO experts are ‘correct’ that there is ‘no safe level’ in terms of risks to health.
However, he added that it was ‘important to stress’ that by sticking to the guidelines the risk to health is ‘small’.
The risk of developing alcohol related diseases is ‘greatest for those who consume large amounts in a small period of time’, he added.
Mr Hamilton said: ‘Ensuring that everyone understands the risks associated with their consumption is important but for those drinking occasionally and low quantities the risks to their health are small.’
