Pints of wine to be sold in British shops for first time in post-Brexit ‘freedom’

Join the View from Westminster e mail for skilled evaluation straight to your inbox

Get our free View from Westminster e mail

Britons will quickly be capable of purchase “pint” sized bottles of nonetheless and glowing wine within the type of a brand new 568ml quantity to look on grocery store cabinets and in pubs, golf equipment and eating places, the Authorities has introduced.

The federal government has touted bringing again the pint measure for champagne as a supposed “Brexit win” – however sensible difficulties imply the product is unlikely to truly hit cabinets.

The transfer to introduce the 568ml dimension will sit alongside 200ml and 500ml measures already out there, providing extra flexibility and selection for purchasers, the Division for Enterprise and Commerce stated.

Pint bottles of Champagne had been bought within the UK earlier than Britain joined the European Widespread Market and had been on cabinets till 1973. Their manufacturing ceased as they didn’t adjust to EU weights and measures guidelines.

Some 900 vineyards, which presently produce round 12.2 million bottles of nonetheless or glowing wine a yr, are set to learn from the brand new post-Brexit “freedoms”, the division stated.

Nonetheless French champagne producers have advised The Unbiased they don’t have any plans to promote their glowing wine in pint measures any time quickly.

Pol Roger, the champagne home famously favoured by Winston Churchill and the previous producer of pint bottles, advised The Unbiased the concept was a “non-story”.

A comparatively small variety of pint bottles had been bought within the UK earlier than Britain entered the European Widespread Market till 1973 – however their manufacturing ceased as a result of they didn’t adjust to EU weights and measures guidelines.

Speaking earlier this yr Pol Roger, which as soon as shipped pint bottles to the UK in instances of 16, stated it might value tens of 1000’s for glassmakers to create a brand new pint mould – making it a dangerous enterprise proposition with no apparent profit.

“We tried to encourage our French [operation] to have a look at it and so they’ve checked out it,” James Simpson, managing director of Pol Roger Ltd within the UK, advised The Unbiased.

The adjustments may also permit new portions of each pre-packed nonetheless and glowing wine – in bottles or cans – to be bought in 200ml and 500ml portions alongside the brand new 568ml “pint” amount, to carry extra alignment between the 2 drinks.

At the moment, nonetheless wine can’t be bought in 200ml portions and glowing wine can’t be bought in 500ml quantities.

There is no such thing as a authorized obligation for companies to promote within the new sizes.

The Authorities additionally used the announcement to substantiate that after “cautious consideration” it had determined to not introduce any new laws following its session on alternative round models of measurement, which was revealed in June final yr and obtained greater than 100,000 responses.

The session thought-about Authorities proposals to take away the requirement to point out metric models alongside imperial models in commerce, or permit metric models to be proven with much less prominence than imperial models.

The division stated evaluation confirmed 98.7% of respondents had been in favour of utilizing metric models when shopping for or promoting merchandise, both as the first unit of sale as presently or as the only unit of sale.

Kevin Hollinrake, Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Enterprise, stated: “Innovation, freedom and selection – that’s what at present’s announcement offers to producers and shoppers alike.

“Our exit from the EU was all about moments similar to this, the place we are able to seize new alternatives and supply an actual increase to our nice British wineries and additional rising the financial system.”

WineGB chief government Nicola Bates stated: “We welcome the prospect to have the ability to harmonise nonetheless and glowing bottle sizes and we’re pleased to lift a glass to the higher alternative.”