Supermarket ‘wine’ that’s only 75% the real thing
SUPERMARKETS are selling bottles of red and white wine that are actually only 7 per cent the genuine article.
The ‘wine-based drinks’, which have been sold in Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco, come in 7 cl bottles and look very similar to the real wine that they sit alongside on the shelves.
They also have around the same alcohol content and price as genuine wine. The only clue they are not the real thing is buried in the label’s small print.
The Australian drinks are made up of a blend of 7 per cent real wine and ‘must’, effectively filtered grape juice squeezed from the fruit before the fermentation process.
However, ‘must’ is not listed on the label, because unlike other food and drink products there is no legal requirement to list all the ingredients in wine. Sainsbury’s is selling Copper Red and Copper White, at 12. per cent and 11 per cent alcohol, for £6.2 . Morrisons is stocking Shy Pig Red and White, at 11 per cent and 10. per cent alcohol, for £3.29. And Tesco was selling a now-withdrawn drink called Umber.
Experts at Wotwine.com, who made the discovery, say there is a real danger that shoppers will be fooled and called for the drinks to be displayed separately from genuine wine and ‘merchandised clearly for what they are’.
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: ‘Copper Australian Red is clearly labelled as a wine-based drink’, while Morrisons said: ‘Every wine product we offer is clearly labelled as such.’