Fall in sterling adds to pressure on retailers

As sterling tumbles, some wine drinkers are again starting to travel northwards to stock up. Can we blame them? As I write, the euro gets you 90 cents. As we are painfully aware, duties on alcohol in the Republic are among the highest in Europe, with wine being taxed more than any other drink. At the moment, the government takes 50 per cent of the cost of a €10 bottle of wine. Our duty rate is 12 per cent higher than the UK.

Most of the multiples have branches on both sides of the Border and so have the problem covered to some degree. But how are the independents faring against this unfair competition? It has been a tough few years fighting against the might of the multinational supermarkets and discounters who have far greater purchasing power and the ability to sell below cost. Dublin shops seem to be recovering, but is there a rural/urban divide here too?

Gary Gubblins of Red Nose Wines in Clonmel (who hold their wine fair on November 24th – see rednosewine.com) says the average price point moved up a little: “Customers are asking less about what is on special and more a case of ‘what is new and interesting’. Some took advantage of offers in the supermarkets, but ended up pouring them away. I don’t worry too much; I do my thing, they do theirs. I never compete with supermarkets, and couldn’t anyway.”

Declan Brady of World Wide Wines in Waterford was getting ready for his wine fair on the November 18th (see worldwidewines.ie) when I spoke to him. “There is a lot of activity and positivity but our area hasn’t come back yet. We are not affected by sterling, but with the ferries close by, people go over to France and load up. They sell on to family and friends, and some is being sold out of the back of cars. It has a big effect on us.”

Brendan O’Reilly of Dicey Reilly’s in Ballyshannon, just four miles from the Border, was surprisingly upbeat: “People are not necessarily going over the Border. The range of wines we stock are not readily available there. Many customers even travel to us from the North because of our selection. The sterling difference may hit us; we will find out coming up to Christmas. We are becoming more specialist all the time – craft beer and gin has really helped us. He recently released North & South, a beer brewed in collaboration with a Fermanagh brewery.

Noffla, the organization representing the independent trade, recently announced their  Star Awards. Spain performed very well, picking up five out of a possible nine gold medals, showing what great value the country offers at the moment. The Castaño Hécula won overall Wine of the Year Award; the best white was the Valmiñor Albariño.