THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 92, June 2020
Dog of the Month: Bagel The Wine Merchant magazine
How can you persuade people to place orders for unusual, unfamiliar and often bizarre wines when they can’t come into your shop to taste them? Sunny Hodge of Diogenes the Dog in south London thought he’d found the answer with his “phone sommelier” service, allowing customers to chat about wines rather than simply take a chance with an online order. Read about how the experiment went on pages 24 to 26. Photo by Daniel Ogulewicz
Scrap these useless VI-1 forms Paperwork demanding costly lab tests on EU wine imports could deter small producers from exporting to the UK
T
he government is being urged to
scrap plans to impose costly VI-1 import documentation on all EU
wines arriving in the UK from next year. The Wine & Spirit Trade Association
says European producers will face €300
to €400 of extra costs for every wine they export to the UK.
It argues that the forms have little
meaning or relevance and are essentially “a
Simon Stannard described the VI-1 system
hit independents disproportionately hard,
undertake a suite of tests that accompany
barrier to trade”.
The requirement to use VI-1 forms will
especially as specialist merchants typically over-index in European wines.
Speaking at a webinar for independent
merchants, organised in partnership with The Wine Merchant, WSTA policy director
as “quite burdensome”.
He explained: “An exporter is required to
that shipment. We think those tests will cost around €300 or €400 a go, and we
think there would be upwards of about a
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