The consequences of a “hard” Brexit, in the event of no agreement with the UK, could be heavy for winegrowers: new labeling rules, analysis certifications for each batch of wine… With six months to go, several crucial points remain unresolved.

Britain’s exit from the European Union is surrounded by many uncertainties, particularly for French winegrowers who sell wine in this region. With six months to go before the January 1, 2021 deadline, the tax and customs consequences for wines marketed in the UK after this date are unclear.

“The only thing we know is that we don’t know very much,” admits Nicolas Ozanam, General Delegate of the French Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters (FEVS), who is categorical on one point: “Trade between the European Union and third countries is subject to customs formalities. This will be the case in 2021, unless a trade agreement between Brussels and London lays down simpler, more flexible rules”.

French winegrowers misinformed

> From left to right, Tim Ford, Managing Director of Domaine Gayda, Vincent Chansault, Technical Director & David Chardron, Sales Director.

Tim Ford, winemaker at Domaine Gayda in the Aude (1.4 million bottles), was warned at the start of the containment period by his importer Cambridge Wine Merchants: in the event of a “no-deal”, this Briton, who has been established in the Languedoc region for 15 years, would have to open all his cartons destined for the British market, peel off the wines’ back labels and affix new ones, and carry out a complete analysis of the juices (alcoholic strength, volatile acidity, dry matter, etc.).

An administrative headache, because with 800,000 bottles sold in Europe, England is its second-largest market. “For two pallets with a mix of 12 different wines, this represents an additional cost of €240 for packaging and €360 for laboratory analysis of the wines”, this winemaker quickly calculates.

Eight back labels

For just over a year, in order to cut out the middleman, he has been working directly with a dozen English importers, chain stores (Majestic), restaurants (le Café des amis) and wholesalers (Oxford Wine Company, HHC).

But this stitched-together system is no longer viable in the absence of post-Brexit agreements. “It’s impossible for me to have eight back labels and as many analyses for batches of one or two pallets. Only very large volumes would make it possible to amortize costs, which means we lose all our flexibility on the UK market”, explains this producer, who claims to be totally misinformed. “I haven’t been contacted by my interprofession (Interoc for Pays d’Oc PGI wines, editor’s note), so nobody knows anything,” he asserts.

ARTICLE – LA REVUE DU VIN DE FRANCE