T he sommelier Honey Spencer, of Sune in east London, struck a real chord on Instagram earlier this year: “I’m so fucking sick of expensive wine,” she lamented. There followed an angry plaint about the “unrelenting rise” in the cost of bottles from “artisans making wine properly … and FORGET BURGUNDY”. In a difficult climate, this is “one of the hardest pills to swallow” for the restaurateur. It’s not an easy swallow for the customer, either, given the mark-up on hard pills these days: according to UKHospitality , the price of wine has gone up 40% since 2020, which will surprise no one who has quietly wept into a £59 rioja. You can cite many reasons – our old friend Brexit, climate change, rising staffing costs, rising costs of, well, everything – but two factors stand out. One is a steep rise in alcohol duty: British drinkers already pay the highest alcohol tax in Europe and, as of this year, this will rise in line with inflation.…