THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 99, February 2021
Dog of the Month: Layla York Wines
Higher costs, more red tape – indies face up to price of Brexit Pre-Christmas stockpiling has shielded many from the impact, but for some the problems have already arrived
red tape, delays at ports and
certification charges for organic
wines are among the many issues testing
the patience and ingenuity of independents and suppliers as a result of Brexit.
Some indies seem relatively optimistic
that port disruptions and shipping delays
will be short-term, but there’s widespread
feeling that the impact on prices caused by
impact on cost and will wait to find out what happens on UK duty in the new
Budget [in March],” says David Farber at Connaught Cellars in London.
“Brexit doesn’t have such an impact if
you’re shipping huge volumes at a time but for smaller quantities, it has a big impact on price.
“It can be absorbed when you have
bought two pallets at a time because it’s divided across thousands of bottles.
“When we work with small artisan
winemakers and get an allocation of 40 or 60 bottles, the impact is quite huge.”
Continues page four
Harvest at te Pā © New Zealand Winegrowers
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rice increases, prohibitive
the admin costs of complying with red tape will be more permanent.
Issues around HMRC’s Chief system for
logging customs codes for individual wines from EU countries were highlighted by
Daniel Lambert, of Daniel Lambert Wines, on his Twitter feed and subsequently picked up by various media.
Lambert described the impact of Brexit
as not just a car crash but “a multiple pile-
up in the fog” and predicted on-shelf price rises of between £1 and £2 a bottle.
Other operators have told The Wine
Merchant that prices will certainly rise but it’s too early to say by how much.
Many have only recently placed their first post-Christmas orders having stocked
up heavily in advance to avoid Brexit Day disruption.
Several maintain increases would not be
as steep as Lambert’s predictions.
“I think everyone is still assessing the
The first virtual New Zealand Wine Week is over, hot on the heels of news that sales in the UK off-trade were up 23% last year. Our New Zealand feature, starting on page 54, includes details of an independent promotion with thousands of pounds of stock up for grabs for retailers.