Breaking the £5 barrier

What happens when an irresistible force meets an unmovable object? British wine drinkers may be about to find out.

The unmovable object is the five pound price barrier. This was the critical threshold between 'everyday' and 'premium' when I joined the UK wine trade 15 years ago, and I am still waiting for our average retail price to breach it. This I find staggering given that compound inflation over that period adds up to 50%, and the tax on a £5 bottle has increased by even more, from £1.79 then to £2.73 today. Taking those figures into account, your fiver...