'Dangers' of the half-pint wine glass

Title – ‘Dangers’ of the half-pint wine glass
Source – The Times
Date – 26th June 2008

It’s a subject I have covered before in this blog and one which seems to be set run and run. The consumption of wine in the UK has changed dramatically in the last 15 - 20 years. It has changed from an ‘elitist’ almost ‘specialist’ pursuit and is now very much mainstream. Even at the upper end of the market, champagne is now no longer the reserve of weddings and 21st birthday parties, but consumed so regularly that many outlets sell it by the glass without the risk of wastage from bottles remaining open and unsold over long periods of time.

When I first started in the licensed retail sector, pubs clubs and bars were even reluctant to open a bottle of red wine for fear of not selling the rest of the bottle before it went off; wine merchants were providing cooled dispensing units with 125ml measures to dispense wine from and even draught wine (from an unknown source below the bar) was deemed ‘acceptable’.

In those days the quality of the ‘table’ or ‘house’ wine was generally such that people were put off purchasing and the ‘half-decent’ wine was something either outside of the budget or very much only consumed in a more formal dining setting.

But things change... mostly for the better, but rarely without needing a little tweak here or there; wine consumption is a great example of this. The old 125ml glass is no longer the norm because people simply don’t consume wine in the same way anymore; that does not make them binge drinkers. The oversized 175ml is a much more ‘civilised’ way to enjoy wine, it allows the consumer to enjoy the bouquet of the wine, it allows the wine to breath and it is just a more relaxed way of enjoying the flavour of the wine. The days of shuffling back from the bar with a 125ml glass filled almost to the brim will seem alien and unappetising to most consumers; we must remember that the vast majority of consumers are responsible.

However there are as I said always blips that need tweaking when cultural shifts take place and there are always segments of our communities that either don’t understand or abuse this cultural shift; and that is what has happened, wine consumption has taken a cultural shift. The 250ml glass is undoubtedly a large glass of wine and its merits beyond the obvious are difficult to defend on some fronts, but the licensed retail sector is strongly consumer led and what the consumer demands has to be met or they will go elsewhere.

What has not moved with this cultural shift is the message that both the industry and the government have a duty to communicate. Both the health risks from excessive drinking and in the case of 250ml glasses of wine, the potentially serious consequence of driving whilst over the limit after consuming ‘just one glass of wine’.

Everyone working within the sector has a duty firstly to understand the effects of alcohol on their customers and to retail alcohol responsibly. The consumer should have a choice and we should protect that right, but to make a choice they must have easy access to all the information on their purchase good and bad. For this information to be available all staff need to have the appropriate level of training. For front line staff this may be a course such as the Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) and for more senior staff this may include the National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) or the National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS).

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