Tax viewed through a sherry glass darkly

By CLAIRE TREVETT

Max Peers has two passions: his roses and his sherry.

The retired gent, in his 70s, is a volunteer driver for the Cancer Society and enjoys going to poetry readings.

He spends hours admiring the rose bushes at his home in the Waitakere Gardens Retirement Village in Henderson.

When he has a night off, he likes nothing more than sitting down for a nice drop of sherry.

So Mr Peers was most unimpressed to wake yesterday and discover his favoured tipple is going to cost him a lot more.

The Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Act was passed under extraordinary urgency about 5am yesterday.

The legislation increases the excise duty on drinks containing 14 to 23 per cent alcohol.

It covers fortified wines, including port and sherry, which are typically 18 to 23 per cent alcohol.

Acting Minister of Customs Jim Anderton said it was necessary to include the fortified wines so they did not become another cheap alternative for young drinkers.

But Mr Peers said the Government's bid to curb underage drinking would hit elderly folk the hardest.

"This is our right, to sit down at the end of the day and put our feet up," he said.

"Anderton and [Prime Minister Helen] Clark can re-think this one."

Mr Peers did not think the tax rise would stop underage drinking.

"All through the history of mankind, youngsters have drunk," he said.

"A price increase of $6 on my bottle of sherry is not going to stop all those youngsters lying down under a bridge in a drunken state."

Many in the fortified wine industry also said the Government had erred in including drinks such as port and sherry in the excise.

Lincoln Vineyards owner Peter Fredatovich said the excise was just a "tax grab" and the people buying those products were predominantly older.

"They're certainly not younger."

He estimated a two-litre bottle of port would cost $7.50 more.

Mr Fredatovich said the move could sound the death knell for an already declining fortified wine market.

Statistics New Zealand says the amount of fortified wine on shop shelves has dropped 50 per cent since 1996.

Langton's Heritage Restaurant owner Logan Gregg said he was amazed that the lower alcohol content drinks were not included in the tax rise.

"Kids don't drink sherry or port," he said.

Max's tipple

Max Peers' favourite drink, The Old Masters rich cream sherry, costs about $12. It has an 18 per cent alcohol content. With the new tax, his 750ml bottle will cost about $18.

In his preference for that tipple, Max follows a fine tradition. The artist Colin McCahon and poet James K Baxter were also known to take their wine the fortified way, favouring sweet sherry or port in flagons.

Further afield, the Queen Mother was said to enjoy fortified wine, Dubonnet, which she apparently took mixed with gin.