(TDB) - The UK wine industry needs to wake up to new drinking occasions and the growing desire for low-alcohol wines or risk getting left behind according to one key player.

Speaking to the drinks business during the World Bulk Wine Exhibition in Amsterdam this week, David Arthur, business development advisor for ConeTech, said:

“I worked in the tobacco industry in the ‘80s. Sugar is under the cosh right now and it’s coming for wine too. The industry needs to realise that this is coming. We need to be proactive in changing the situation.

“We need to be smarter about corporate social responsibility. The drinks industry can’t carry on with the cosy status quo. It needs to wake up to the fact that we have new drinking occasions that need to be catered to.”

Arthur said his company was talking to the UK government about changing the tax on lower alcohol wines, which will help to cut alcohol consumption.

“People are looking at their wine portfolios and are realising that they have nothing in there under 14% abv and are exposed.

“Our spinning cone technology offers wineries the chance to bring their alcohol levels down without losing any of the character of the wine,” he said.

It means producers in regions like California can allow their grapes to fully ripen then end up with a 12.5% wine in the end.

“We’ve sold the technology to a few wineries in California that I can’t name,” revealed Arthur, who feels consumers are open-minded to low and no alcohol drinks.