With the season of celebration and the Budget both only weeks away, isn't it time the Minister for Finance saw the folly of our monstrously high excise duty on sparkling wine? It's £3.22 a bottle - exactly twice the level of duty on table wine which, heaven knows, is unpalatably steep at £1.61 per bottle - even though the alcohol content is similar. That's 108 per cent higher than in the UK, 75 per cent higher than in Sweden and Norway (countries notorious for high alcohol taxes) and 65 per cent higher than the excise on spirits in Ireland, even though we keep hearing how much healthier wine is. And on top of this sky-high duty comes VAT at 21 per cent. Minister, how about a bit of harmonisation?