Yesterday's Budget confirmed what most of the trade expected and hoped wouldn't happen: alcohol duty goes up again. From 1st February 2027, duty on wine rises by 4.55%, in line with RPI. There was no freeze, no cut, and nothing specific for UK wine producers.

To help you work out what that means for your bottles and your margins, we've built a free UK wine duty calculator. It's already updated with the 2027 rates.

Open the calculator

What changed in the Budget

Since the August 2023 reform, still and sparkling wine pay duty the same way: per litre of pure alcohol in the bottle. The stronger the wine, the more duty it pays. Here are the rates now, and from February:

ABV From 1st Feb 2026 From 1st Feb 2027
0.0% to 1.2% £0.00 £0.00
1.3% to 3.4% £9.96 £10.41
3.5% to 8.4% £26.61 £27.82
8.5% to 22.0% £30.62 £32.01
Over 22.0% £33.99 £35.54

Per litre of pure alcohol. Source: GOV.UK alcohol duty rates, checked 28th October 2026.

Almost every wine sits in the 8.5% to 22.0% band, so £32.01 is the number that matters for most producers.

What that means on a 75cl bottle

Wine strength Duty now Duty from Feb 2027 Increase Increase incl. VAT
11% (e.g. Prosecco, lighter whites) £2.53 £2.64 +11p +13p
12% (e.g. English sparkling) £2.76 £2.88 +12p +14p
13.5% (e.g. most reds and fuller whites) £3.10 £3.24 +14p +17p
14.5% (e.g. big reds) £3.33 £3.48 +15p +18p

For every strength from 8.5% to 15%, download our wine duty rate table: a 75cl bottle before the 2023 reform and at every rate change since, including February 2027.

VAT is charged on top of duty, so the shelf price rise is bigger than the duty rise itself. A few pence a bottle doesn't sound like much on its own, but across a vintage, or a wine club shipping thousands of cases a year, it adds up fast. And it comes on top of three and a half years of increases: the WSTA estimates duty on a 14.5% red has gone up by around £1.50, or 56%, since the new system came in during August 2023.

How the industry has responded

The two main trade bodies were quick to react, and neither was impressed.

In its response to the Budget, WineGB said the Budget had done nothing for the domestic wine sector, despite the Government's emphasis on growth. It pointed to the £10m duty relief given to British brewers and cider makers, with nothing equivalent for wine, and noted that its proposals for a Wine Tourism Relief, a fairer approach to wine duty and reform of Small Producer Relief had all been passed over.

“Our industry needs decisions, not declarations.”

Vincent McGovern
Policy Director, WineGB

In a press release, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association called the rise a record-breaking RPI increase that businesses will have no choice but to pass on to consumers. It cited NIQ data showing wine volume sales down 8% since 2023, and argued that repeated duty rises are closing businesses rather than boosting Treasury revenue.

“No-one will be toasting this record breaking 4.55% RPI increase.”

Miles Beale
Chief Executive, WSTA

Work out your own numbers

Whatever you think of the policy, you still need to set your prices. That's what the wine duty calculator is for.

Pick a format (anything from a 25cl can or a half bottle up to a magnum or a 5L bag-in-box), enter the ABV, choose still or sparkling, and choose which rates to use, including the February 2027 rates. Then there are four calculators:

  • Duty on a wine. The duty per bottle, per case of 6 and 12, and how it's worked out, with the same wine at half-percent steps either side. Useful if a vintage comes in a little stronger than the last.
  • Price a wine. Put in your cost per bottle and the margin you want, and it gives you the shelf price you need. It then shows what you get and your margin at that price across cellar door and online, wine club, trade and wholesale, using your own club discount, retailer and wholesaler margins.
  • Work back from a price. Start from the shelf price you charge now and see how it splits between VAT, duty and what you keep.
  • Then vs now. How duty on that wine has changed over time. A 13.5% still wine has gone from £2.23 a bottle in 2019 to £3.10 now. Put in how many bottles you sell a year and it shows what that adds up to across your business.

Any wine from any of the calculators can go on a price list, with net, duty and gross prices, that you can download as a PDF or CSV. You can also duplicate a list to price it at next year's rates, which is exactly the job most producers have before February. Lists stay in your browser until you save them, so there's no sign-up needed to use it.

Duty is set at each Budget and usually rises every February, so you can also leave your email on the page and we'll tell you when rates change, with the new figures for a bottle of wine.

Alongside the calculator, we've written short guides to the questions we get asked most:

What to do before 1st February

  • Put your whole range on a price list, not just your bestseller, then duplicate it at the February 2027 rates to see the new duty on every wine side by side.
  • Decide whether to absorb or pass on the rise, channel by channel. You might hold cellar door prices and adjust trade, or the other way round.
  • Tell your wine club members early. Subscribers handle a small price change far better when they hear about it from you first, with a clear reason, than when they spot it on a statement.
  • If you hold stock under duty suspension, talk to your accountant about timing, since the rate you pay depends on when the wine leaves bond.

If you have questions about the new rates, or want a hand updating prices in Marzipan before February, get in touch.