The recent imposition of an additional 45% / €1 in excise duty on a standard 75cl bottle of wine will add well over €2.50 to the cost for a customer of a bottle of wine in a restaurant.
Greedy, cynical, self interested Government politicans & officials thinking: those who drink wine can afford to pay a few extra Euro. Tosh.
A wine drinker imbibing three €10 bottles a week already contributes €633 in Duty and VAT per year, this nasty tax rise will add over €150 to that figure, coming close to a grand in tax for the annual pleasure of sipping even average fermented grapes.
The duty is now €3.19 (€6.37 on a bottle of Fizz) and as most Shippers, Restaurateurs and Retailers regard duty as a cost, a full 23% of the total cost on or off trade is VAT.
The tax take on a €10 bottle of wine is approximately 50%, but reduces to about a third of a €20 bottle of wine. And, you are getting significantly more grape and terroir; technically 5 times the quality in a €20 bottle as in a €10 bottle.
This quality rises exponentially the more you invest.
. 
So a suggestion:
Drink less but enjoy better value by spending more per bottle;
Buy good or better quality wine to reduce the tax take to those inept and cynical twonk Politicans & Civil Servants;
Of course, the Revenue still get their money and the distributor and retailers still retain their margins, however, you will be getting a much better wine and will help to add more value for the producer.
Stop whining I hear you say.
McConkey Wine 