The Italian Abroad Wine Blog is a wine blog and diary where I share my thoughts, primarily about Italian wine and food, but also on wine, food, and travel in general. I founded Italyabroad.com in 2003 and have been living abroad for over 20 years. Coming from an Italian winemaking family, I was introduced to wine at a very early age. While my roots are in Italian wine, I appreciate and enjoy good wine from all over the world, alongside great food and the joys of travel. My posts often weave these passions together.
To help you better understand Italian wines, we've created a series of Italian wine regions maps that show DOC and DOCG wines, their origins and the grapes they are made of, including your favorite Italian wines. I’ve also written a post on the Italian wine appellation system explaining and demystifying the Italian wine classification system and what it really means for wine lovers and enthusiasts.
Additionally, I host a YouTube channel , where you can watch me taste some of our wines and answer your questions about Italian wines and grapes. From the meaning of DOC to what makes an orange wine, we cover it all.
I hope you enjoy reading this wine blog! Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Salute
Andrea
Starting from August, unless of a last minute scrap or extension which we are all hoping for, climate change will affect the price of our favourite wine. The duty on wine will be determined by the alcohol content affecting wine produced all over the world especially warmer climates. Any wine with an alcohol content of 11.5% and above will see an increase in duty, increase that will force importers to put prices up
There are plenty of charts available showing how much wine is actually in a bottle based on its retail prices, showing us that in a £5.00 bottle there is actually only £0.36 of wine or £2.76 in a £10 bottle and telling us to think twice before buying a £5.00 bottle. Charts that take into account the different price components with the emphasis on excise duty and VAT – they account for the majority of their cost on lower priced wines – but to fairly determine the amount of wine inside a bottle, I believe we need to consider where the wine comes from
Duty has always been an easy way for any Government to raise finances, often hidden and justified, as a deterrent to the binge drinking culture or to alleviate the financial impact on social services, police and the NHS. The duty doesn’t just affect wine, it touches all alcoholic drinks, based on their alcohol content, and until last year, they were all considered as one
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