What's it going to be?

What do you think? 10c per bottle, 20c, 50c, more? With current duty running at 2.04 per bottle, not forgetting the 21% vat that gets thrown in as well, you would think we are already paying enough tax on wine, but it looks like it will go up tomorrow.

This isn't just a revenue-generation exercise though, although it will be presented as such. There have been anti-alcohol reports in the media all year and this is the predictable end result. There will be bigger and worse news in the budget, of course and a few red herrings thrown in to divert out attention away from the details, but a hike in excise duties will make a difficult market even worse.

Of course, I might be wrong, I will be quite happy if I am. I will be in Bordeaux tomorrow, missing the bad news. I will decide on Wednesday whether or not it's worth coming back.