Winemakers warn cask wine could hit $38

CASK wine will rocket in price from about $12 a pop to nearly $38 if the Commonwealth adopts Treasury recommendations, winemakers have warned.

The Winemakers' Federation of Australia has completed modelling on proposals understood to be part of the 1000-page Henry report that alcohol be taxed uniformly by volume, according to a report in the Northern Territory News.

It has calculated that a switch to taxing wine by alcohol content - rather than by value, as is presently the case - would see the price of a four-litre cask leaping from $12.55 to just under $38.

WFA boss Stephen Strachan said the modelling forecast up to a 34 per cent drop in wine sales volume, and described it as "the biggest kick in the guts you could give to a grape grower at the moment".

But an increase in cask prices would be welcomed by some groups.

The People's Alcohol Action Coalition in NT argues wine casks are too cheap.

It wants a "floor price" to make the cost of takeaway alcohol work out to be $1 per standard drink.

NT Licensing Commission chairman Richard O'Sullivan late last year labelled cask wine as the drink of choice for Territorians who wanted "bang for their buck" and to wipe themselves out.

The WFA argues wine is not the culprit in problem drinking, saying it is normally drunk by adults in moderation and with food.