This is a slightly different take to the more general thread, since I would like to see what it has done to your wine purchases, and perhaps your future plans.
I have been doing a little bit of backfilling, I am storing any purchases in Europe, hoping a new administration will cancel tariffs, or law courts will find them illegal. I am also buying much more carefully, about a quarter of what I did pre tariff.
I’m not buying any wine that needs to be imported. If it’s on a shelf and I know exactly what it costs, I can decide if I want to buy it. Trying to figure out what it might cost at some undefined future import point is not a fun exercise, and there’s plenty of good wine that’s either made in the US or has already been imported.
I’ve been avoiding pre-arrival wines and pay better attention to the magic words “in-stock”.
After 6 months of naive hope, fruitless prayer and ok, denial, I’ve started checking pre-orders to see what’s landed. It’s a mixed bag. Understandable given the shifting sands of economic uncertainty.
Like us wine geeks, I’m sure that folks ITB have been holding their collective breath in hopes that by shipping season, things would settle down, aaaaand they haven’t.
I have confidence in my shops, it’s just wine.
(Exception: Cru and Domaine in Portland OR, now part of Wine and Spirits - pending order from Jan 2023. C’mon now, really?)
Same for me. I just buy or don’t buy based on whether I want to pay the cost of the wine in question. If it has slightly affected the pricing for anything I was going to buy, I haven’t noticed, but it’s possible it has I guess.
Basically, I have ignored the issue and it does not seem to be affecting me in any way. I’m not buying gray market cases to be shipped from Europe though.
I buy domestic so it doesn’t matter to me. That said, my partner just brought half case of grand cru burg and champagne in our luggage and CBP basically waved us through. He said it’s cheaper to fly to Europe and get the wine than pay the tariffs.
The better question is why are you still buying wine. You’re an old fxxcker who already has a great cellar.
I skipped 2023 Bordeaux futures. I was on the fence and tariffs seemed like a great scapegoat to skip.
And I’m not buying anything that may be subject to a tariff.
Still buying EP in UK and storing over there. No real need to bring anything over anytime soon.
The dollar devaluation has had more of an impact on the way I buy wine than tariffs. Buying with Pounds or Euros to keep in Europe got a lot more expensive, so I am waiting that out.
It has totally mucked up my - as yet - undelivered wine futures. I have some half bottles of 2021 Sauternes that STILL have not been shipped, because the store - in a moment of incredible ineptitude - opted to pause consolidations until the tariff situation got clearer. I will NEVER purchase a future from this store again.
You cannot teach stupid.
I’m a younger collector, and the first vintage that I actually began purchasing in quantity was 2017. So, about half of my annual purchases are backfilling older wines so that I have things to drink. Most of that has been from European sources, specifically a lot of Raveneau and Dauvissat on iDealwine. I have had great luck with those bottles, and there was a bit of a golden era where the dollar and euro were essentially at parity. However, now with the tariffs and the dollar’s decline, my international buying has slowed to a crawl. I have become much more focused on local retailers with sharp pricing, and buying the wines I want immediately when they are in stock. Once they are gone, they are gone.
The more difficult thing for me to swallow has been sourcing older wines at good prices. They can often be found at auction in Europe for less than the current release price in the US, where back vintages that are already stateside are often double the current release price. I now have to be much more thoughtful about the wines I open because they are increasingly more difficult to backfill.
I’ve been slowing down my buying, especially on recent releases anyway, so I don’t know how much the tariffs really have an impact on those. I also buy a lot fewer at auction and mostly cherries, which I store in Europe until either the next administration or tariffs are gone…
I’ve stopped buying pre-arrivals and am digging deeper into the US-side secondary/auction markets instead, although I fear prices may catch up sooner than later in those waters too. 2023 Bordeaux and Burg both being eminently skippable vintages helps with any FOMO.
It’s a really good reinforcement of my retirement cutbacks.
Also buying only wines already in the US.
I buy European pre-arrivals from no more than four sources, with the vast majority of those being from two sources. I’ve contacted those two sources and asked, in writing, if the pricing I see in their offers is subject to potential later increase in price due to tariffs. They answered – in writing – “No.” So for them I know/trust the price I see in the offer is the price I will pay. I have not done the same with the other two sources because I have not had interest in buying anything they have on offer since the tariffs went into effect.
Aside from that, increased prices due to tariffs have priced me out of some wines I used to buy.
Tariffs have NOT caused me to buy more American wines than I already do – if the American wines weren’t worth the asking price six months ago, they’re still not worth it to me at the same price today.
I primarily buy American wines DTC other than Champagne. If tariffs raise the price of bottles, cork, etc. or if distribution changes make even DTC wines more expensive, then I will possibly buy less. Kid in college, approaching retirement, etc.
Same here.
I buy if it’s stateside. I abstain if there’s a shipping lane.
Tariffs being tacked on later is the least of my worries. I basically haven’t bought anything in the US this year because the price from all these gray market retailers is 35% higher than I want to pay - 15% for the tariffs and 20% for the exchange rate. Zero value.