Stephen Jardine: Tinkering with labelling as drink destroys Scottish families is no longer an option

I REMEMBER the moment I discovered wine. I was 18-years-old and on holiday in Paris with some friends. Short of cash, we ordered a bowl of chips and the cheapest bottle of wine in a café. It was a basic Bordeaux, but it opened up a world of enjoyment I’ve enjoyed ever since.

At that time, wine at home meant Blue Nun, Black Tower or, if my dad was feeling very adventurous, a Paul Masson carafe. Wine in pubs was dispensed from a bottle of red and a bottle of white kept inside a display case as if they were toxic nuclear material. And the taste of some of them justified that extreme caution.

Now most pubs offer a selection by the glass or bottle and even a corner shop stocks Chardonnay, Rioja and Pinot Grigio, at the very least. Our enthusiasm is matched by a thirst for knowledge. Many of us also want to understand more about grape varieties and how winemakers create great flavours in a bottle.

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The Wine Gang is a group of experts on a mission to help us increase our knowledge. Next Saturday it is in Edinburgh for a wine fair with masterclasses and special tastings. If the merchants of doom are to be believed, we should enjoy it while we can.

Earlier this week, the Scottish Government announced more details of plans to make Scotland the first country in Europe to levy a minimum price for alcohol. According to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, that means we’re all doomed. “As millions of families face the toughest economic conditions for a generation, the Scottish Government is determined to press ahead,” warned chief executive Jeremy Beadles.

His office is in London, so I’d suggest if he wants to understand the issue, he needs to spend some time in Scotland, where alcohol consumption is 25 per cent higher than England. Given his concern about families coping during the recession, he might like to ponder the 3,000 people killed by alcohol every year in Scotland and the £3.5 billion burden it inflicts on our economy.

I’ve been in shops in poor areas where strong cider is cheaper on the shelves than soft drinks. That’s not just irresponsible, it is reprehensible. Critics of the scheme say our drinking problem is steeped in history. That is true, but it is getting worse, and the bottles strewn in our parks and the drink-fuelled violence on our streets every night of the week can be directly linked to the low cost of alcohol and especially increased drinking in the home.

Minimum pricing isn’t about spoiling responsible drinking for happy families or Big Brother interference. It is about taking responsibility and using a tried and tested method to tackle a problem that blights our society. According to the industry trade association, minimum pricing just won’t work. Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?

In Canada, the introduction of a minimum alcohol unit price for high-strength beers resulted in a dramatic fall in public order problems and a steep decline in sales. And there lies the problem for the industry. The golden goose is facing Christmas. In a sign of desperation, there are even claims that minimum pricing would be illegal and lead to a challenge in the courts.

Let’s step back from that and consider the common good. Politicians are only acting because the industry has failed to do so down the years. This might not be the answer, but at least it is something.

When you lead the way on an issue it often involves stepping into tricky territory where results cannot be guaranteed. But the alternative is to carry on tinkering with labelling and education while deaths rise and more families and communities are blighted by street and domestic violence, fuelled by booze. That is no longer an option.

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