Battle over bottle continues as member of parliament defends King William wine label

An independent panel Portman Group upheld a complaint about the label on a bottle of fortified wine sold in Scotland which included a image of King William and an ABV of 16.90%.

The panel deemed that referencing the King William’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 could cause serious offence as it is “a specific conflict associated with sectarianism”.

East Antrim MP Mr Wilson questioned why King William’s achievements shouldn’t be remembered.

He said: "It is not King Billy wine that the public should be concerned about, it is the Portman Group panel’s whine which attention should be focused on.

"Where do these people come from? King William and the Glorious Revolution which he brought about, laid the foundations for our parliamentary democracy. Why shouldn’t his achievements be remembered in a product branded with his name and the significant date of his contribution to British history?

“This is another example of spineless, middle class busy bodies, anticipating the bigoted outrage of republicans and bowing to the pressure which they expect they would be subjected to, if they were to permit this product to be available in this way."

Earlier this month the wine producers has been trying to find a Northern Ireland supplier.

They posted: “Due to an unprecedented amount of requests from customers in Northern Ireland we require a stockist in Ulster.

“We can offer over 8% discount and cost price transport to any stockist who is prepared to take a pallet of 576 bottles.”

Since the ruling Jersey-based company, Belcondie, have said they will modify the label by changing the recipe and thus the percentage of the fortified wine. However it is likely King William will remain on the bottle.

A Portman Group spokesperson told the News Letter that the independent complaints panel chaired by a part-time Crown Court judge and consisting of lay members with specialist understanding in a range of disciplines including policing, marketing and education “bring their real world experience to bear as well as their understanding of the code to make carefully considered decisions, and in this instance, also sought views from anti-sectarian charities”.