Pint of Whine, Anyone?

The government, in its infinite wisdom, has brought us yet another Brexit Benefit - allowing wine to be sold in restaurants and pubs in pints.

Several Champagne houses produced pint bottles throughout history, but the most notable was Pol Roger. Their connection to "Churchill-sized" bottles is legendary, as Sir Winston Churchill famously preferred his champagne in pints. He even called it "the right quantity for one person of a reasonable disposition." 

While Pol Roger stopped producing pints after the UK joined the EEC in 1973, they had produced them for nearly a century, dating back to around 1874. Other houses known to have produced pint bottles include Bollinger, Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot.

However, given no foreign wine maker is going to take a blind bit of notice of this new legislation, as it means a higher cost of production, the only vineyards to which it could even feasibly be applicable would be British vineyards who don't export (as exporters wouldn't want to increase costs by having dual bottling lines), and then it's doubtful whether they would take advantage of it, as it would mean lower volumes of sales.

In the 13th Century, English kings attempted to impose uniformity with the Assize of Bread and Ale, establishing a "wine pint" and an "ale pint" with different volumes. More attempts at standardization followed, but regional variations persisted. Finally, in 1698, an Act of Parliament defined the pint as one-eighth of a Winchester gallon, bringing some consistency to beer sales.

In a recent survey, only 1.3%, out of 100,000 people surveyed, favoured a return to Imperial weights and volumes. They, presumably, are fully encompassed by the circle of people deluded enough to want Boris Johnson back as PM.