Tony Wellings

Director at The Antipodean Sommelier - Importer of Two Rivers, Snapper Rock, Ward Valley, Coal Pit, Cherry Block and now Silent Noise from Mclaren Vale.

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@UKLabour Duty on a bottle of 15% abv Shiraz was £2.23 18 months ago. On Feb 2025 it will be £3.32. That’s a 50% increase. Smoke and mirrors @RachelReevesMP

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@WSTA_Miles @wstauk I’ll not have enough margin left to pay myself after this, let’s alone join WSTA, even with your new improved rates for SME’s. As ever we’ll have to try and work this out on our own, bit by bit

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@WSTA_Miles @wstauk What I don’t get is how this will work for labelling, ABV tolerances, and declarations to HMRC. Are tolerances not still +/- 0.3% and is it now required to label to 0.1%. With each 0.1% abv move equiv to 2.2p in tax per btl will there be zero tolerance and how does HMRC police?

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@WSTA_Miles @wstauk So in 18 months we have gone from one duty rate for wines between 8.5-15% to around sixty six! If you are correct in your 3.65% RPI assumption, in just 18 months the duty on a 15% ABV btl of Aussie Shiraz will have gone from £2.23 per bottle to £3.32 per bottle (+50%)

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@robertjoseph @DanielLambert29 Totally agree….however you may also find that although name/packaging can drive the initial purchase, building a brand also requires the contents to be up to scratch…..otherwise, no repeat purchase, no loyalty.

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@corkagebath @foodiesfestival We’re in town as well…..perhaps see you there 😄

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

Looking forward to this weekend @foodiesfestival @brighton #wine #brighton #bankholiday #weekend

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@hmtreasury I really don’t think implementing the biggest rise in excise duty (+20%) in august 2023 and planning for one of most complicated duty systems on earth from 1st Feb 2025 is anything to write home about. Costing jobs, businesses and livelihoods. Morons

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@WineMerchantMag You can always ask us! Especially aus and nz

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@dnkrbywine @WineMan147 Lovin this post ❤️

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

https://t.co/xAJA0gMlRK

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@Capn_Tom @DanielLambert29 @Michael98755543 @BBC @BBCNews If the retailer maintains his margin (as he should do) the increase will be more like 75p per bottle

[Gavin Quinney @GavinQuinney]

Sunak and his ‘now the UK is an independent nation…’ claptrap:

The UK trousered almost twice as much in wine duty in 2021 than all the countries in the EU put together.

And now he’s put UK duty up 20% for most wines.

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@RishiSunak Just spent 2 weeks sending price increase letters to all my customers. 44p + vat per btl on pretty much everything. My customers have to do the same with their customers..for what….no more revenue to the treasury…just an excuse for a inaccurate misleading headline @RishiSunak

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@lovelywines And the best bit is @lovelywines is the fact that I pay that duty on 7 days, so I have to finance (and take the credit risk) to our brilliant customers. Who on earth would be a wine merchant or importer in 2023 ?????

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@lovelywines We are most definitely tax collectors @lovelywines. We sell about £1.1m worth of wine per annum as a small importer. £400000 goes to the govt in tax. We are lucky if we make £40/£50k nett margin before wages

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@mrblairbowman Oh dear. Helping consumers. Is that why wine duty is going up by 20% on the 1st august ?

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@mrblairbowman What is this man talking about….you can tell the SNP are trying to blame the delay on U.K. Govt not giving exemption but this is nonsense. Delay due to unworkable scheme…

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@foodiesfestival Brighton….30% off to tickets and your friendly independent wine importer serving award winning Wines from Aussie and NZ. Add in a sprinkling of @scoutingforgir1 @SophieEB and you have it made😄❤️

[Tony Wellings @SnapperRockTony]

@lovelywines Stunning ❤️