Fall in consumption is a wake-up call for the wine trade

A leading lower-alcohol wine brand has welcomed figures showing a dramatic fall in the level of alcohol consumption in the UK in the past five years.

The company claims the dramatic drop is evidence the wine trade needs to pay more attention to its consumers to survive.

Sovio - which is California wine available in a number of UK supermarkets and contains 5.5 per cent of alcohol - barely half that of most other wines.

Sovio founder, Tony Dann says the UK is crying out for quality wines with a lower level of alcohol and says the industry is out of step with public taste.

Sovio is heading a fight to have a lower alcohol category recognised by the wine industry and the sales outlets it supplies.

The survey by the British Beer and Pub Association says alcohol consumption has been falling consistently over the past five years and is down 13 percent compared to 2004.

"This survey, which comes from inside the alcohol business, proves that public tastes are changing. The people who sell alcohol from the larger supermarket chains to the small off licences need to recognise this”, says Dann.

"It's not just a matter of healthier drinking but of more enjoyable drinking and responsible hospitality."

Dann and his company are also leading a call for the Chancellor, George Osborne to think long and hard about the way he can influence duty on units of alcohol.

Dann says the "imbalance" in the way wine is taxed needs to be readdressed.

"The current system allows tax on a unit of alcohol to be lower in wines which have higher overall alcohol content," says Tony Dann. "This is a ludicrous situation as it does nothing to encourage people to drink lower alcohol wines”.