FAQs

Traditionally, the UK market has been supplied by Old World countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. However, over the past twenty years there has been an explosion in wines coming from New World countries such as Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa. These countries have been producing wines that are generally softer, rounder and fruitier - all characteristics which have been adopted by the UK palate. What we are saying is that we can import similar style wines from Europe, particularly from the South of France, and that is the raison-d'etre of our company.

How much tax is there on a bottle of wine? (Charlie, Glasgow)

The Chancellor has very kindly increased the excise duty on a bottle of wine by 6% above the rate of inflation in his budget this year (2008). This is the equivalent of 14p per bottle. This means that we will have to pay £1.46 in duty for every bottle of wine we buy to sell on to you, our customers. But that is not the whole story because we will then have to pay VAT on the duty, so that we are now being taxed £1.71 on every bottle of wine that we buy to sell on!

When the Chancellor increased VAT back up to 17.5% in January 2010, he "forgot" to take off the 2% increase in duty that he imposed to compensate for the loss in duty following the VAT reduction.  This means that the current duty paid on each bottle of wine is £1.61, net of VAT.  When VAT is added, the total cost of duty per bottle comes to a startling £1.89 - which is getting very close to the £2 per bottle!

Can I chill my red wine? (Evelyn, Glasgow)

 We at Angel Fine Wines have always been great believers in chilling red wine during the summer. In fact, in the south of France, red wine is not drunk at room temperature during the summer, because it would be far too hot! Jane McQuitty recently reviewed red wines that she thought were suitable for chilling in The Times and, in the Sunday Times, Joanna Simon recently recommended putting red wine in the fridge for 45 minutes to avoid the wine from being drunk too warm.

Does Angel Fine Wines have any red wines suitable for chilling? (David, Glasgow)

All our wines are suitable for chilling during the summer period, although some more than others. We have one wine just now that we would particularly recommend for chilling. It is a blend of red wine grapes from the south of France, including, among others, tempranillo and pinot noir. Rich and fruity, it has sufficient acid and tannin to continue to be drinkable when chilled and will go with all types of barbecued food, especially chicken, pork sausages and lamb kebabs. It is the Bachellery Tenue de Soiree 2001. The lighter Bachellery red blend, Mas de Cocagne 2005, will chill equally successfully.

Why do we only accept Paypal or cheques?

We don't really have much choice with regard to using Paypal for our web sales.  We do not want to post our bank details on the website, even if it a secure area, so, unless you live locally and want to fill our pockets with cash (which we shall accept readily, of course!), we don't have much choice but to offer cheques only as an alternative facility to Paypal.