US wine sellers worry as Trump tariffs set to hit Wednesday

By Rich McKay

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Adam Williams, 57, owner of Ansley Wine Merchants in Atlanta, said he was bracing for the worst on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump's tariffs are set to kick in, which will spike costs of the imported wines and liquors he sells.

"That means everything will go up," he said, including the customer favorite, a 2023 vintage Sancerre from France which can cost $45. The Trump Administration has said it will institute a 20% tariff on goods from the European Union, which would cause the price of a bottle of wine to surge past what a casual customer would pay. 

Other wine merchants are worried too. The National Association of Wine Retailers in a statement released over the weekend said it expected "significant revenue reductions, layoffs, and business closings."  

The U.S. imports more wine from the European Union than any other part of the world, led by France and Italy. Sales of French wine and spirits could drop by at least 20% when the tariffs go into place, the French wine and spirits exporters FEVS said last week. 

The National Association of Wine Retailers, a U.S. trade group, said any hope for tariffs spurring sales of domestic wines "is misplaced. When faced with the higher prices that will result from the across-the-board tariffs, consumers will rein in their spending. The first thing they cut back on is non-essential items like wine." 

Williams has 1,500 different labels and has tasted them all, and most of his stock comes from overseas.

"I haven't started losing sleep yet, but maybe I should be already," Williams said. "I just don't know how bad this is going to be, but 90 percent of my labels are from overseas, France, Italy. All from small family-owned vineyards. Small producers. Not the mass-produced grocery store wines."

He said there have been hardly any new shipments from overseas because distributors and importers are in "wait-and-see" mode. If the tariffs hit like he thinks, he said, "I'm not sure what will happen. I have eight employees who are like family. I have to look out for them. But what's going to happen here, I don't know.

"But I won't sell mass-produced wine," he said.

"The bottom line is, prices are going up," said Ryan Stanton, general manager of a mid-sized wine importing company, Ultimate Wine Distributors, based in Atlanta. "Buy America is great in theory, but there are a lot of things that we don't and can't make in America," he said.

"We have a lot of wine ready to set sail in France, but it's just parked there as everyone waits to see what happens. It's in negotiations. We're waiting for the dust to settle," he said.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by David Gregorio)