Curious - wine port information

[Traceyg]

Hi,

I’ve joined to ask if anyone has any information on a bottle I have had around my house for many many years , the only info I have is off of the pretty poor condition label .
wee ‘robin’
Robin Hood
Fine Ruby
British wine port type

It has a picture of Robin Hood raising a glass and a logo of WOW written vertically with a capital D behind it .

I’m just curious as to some information as it must have belonged to my grandparents , I have googled but can’t seem to find any information on it . It’s in a bad state but I can’t seem to bring myself to throw it away.

Yours hopefully
Tracey

[Andy Velebil]

I’ve never heard of your Port specifically. But “Fine Ruby” is a basic Ruby Port and not worth anything of value. It probably is still drinkable but how good is anyone’s guess.

Can you post a picture of the bottle/label? And any possible back label?

[Alex Bridgeman]

British Wine was wine made in the UK in the decades between and immediately after the Second World War. It was generally made by adding alcohol and water to concentrated grape must imported into the UK from parts of "the Empire". It's usually very sweet and was never intended to be aged in the bottle.

British Wine is very, very different from English (or Welsh) wine which is top quality produce made from grapes grown in England and Wales and at the opposite end of the quality scale.

I can't tell you anything about the branding, sorry. It just doesn't ring any bells.

[Andy Velebil]

Alex's comments spurred me to look into it further. Seems "British Wine" is still made...

Wine is a drink made from the fermented juice of fresh grapes. A wine takes its name from the country it comes from. Simple! So 'English Wine' is wine made in England from the juice of fresh grapes - and English Wine is generally excellent quality. But, you may be surprised to discover, it isn't 'British Wine'.

A legal curiosity means that wine-type-drinking-products made in the UK, or Ireland, from non-fresh, imported, grape juice can't be called 'wine', but they can be called 'British Wine', which sounds odd, but probably harmless. For a century British firms have been using this trick to make fairly crappy fake imitations of sherry and port, but they've always sold it cheap so it hasn't really mattered too much. But recently (2018) it has stopped being harmless. As the grape juice is usually imported as a concentrate it's up to the makers to dilute it with water as much as they like - and dilute it with water they do. And because it isn't really 'wine' it isn't covered by the strict EU wine-making rules, so, having diluted it, the makers can bulk it out with as much sugar as they fancy. You can make a weak, thin, tasteless liquid, put it in bottles labelled 'Merlot' or 'Chardonnay' and sell it for, oh, just a little bit less than the real thing, and get away with it - as long as the small print says 'British Wine'.

So, it is important to note the distinction between English wine and British wine. English wine is produced from fresh grapes grown in the UK, whereas British wine is a form of 'made wine' (qv) which can be manufactured in the UK and Ireland from imported grapes, grape juice, grape must or a combination of these with fruit or fruit juices etc. Although 'made wine' products can be called 'wine' they must be prefixed with a term such as British, mead, fruit, tonic etc. These products are not governed by the EU Wine Regime.

http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/britishwine.htm

[JacobH]

The problem is that when the term “British wine” was invented, there wasn’t really a commercial wine-growing industry in the UK and so I am sure it was seen as a protection for consumer to inform them that what they were buying wasn’t “real” wine.

For what it is worth, I don’t quite understand why that article says everything changed for the worse in 2018. As far as I can see the “British wine” market remains fairly static, firstly selling very cheap sherry-like knockoffs (like this “Tesco Medium Dry Fortified British Wine”), tonic wines (like the (in)famous Buckfast Tonic Wine), and then really, really cheap table wines.

I suppose there could be some confusion between the British wines and the really cheap table wines but I guess that is more reflective of the availability of ultra-cheap bulk European and New World wines. If we have a look at what B&M is selling, their cheapest, unflavoured wines are all £3.99 and include a mixture of British and Australian wines. Incidentally, the £3.99 includes £2.23 of duty and 66p of VAT so the true “price” of the bottle, ex tax is £1.10!

Also, I notice that one of the British wines on the B&M list is quite consciously playing into the resurgence of the English wine industry by advertising that it is made in its “Norfolk Winery”. I think, in the past, the British wines would try to look as much like a New World wine as they possibly could, relegating the word “British” to the smallest possible area of the label, so it is a bit of a change to see them clearly advertising that fact.