Christmas sales aren’t looking rosy, what with the pandemic – and then we have to deal with Brexit.
I will try not to dwell too much on you-know-what – we all know the effects of the coronavirus, ad infinitum, and glasses are, alas, overflowing. However, fortified by some warming Chianti Classico, forgive me if I make a few observations about its effect on the UK wine trade, especially as I did promise to do such a thing to the most esteemed proprietor of this publication.
We were very lucky (perhaps, in years to come, covid stories will come to resemble those from the “Four Yorkshiremen” sketch – how tough did you have it? These will be accompanied by a decanter of very passable Château de Chassilier, obviously). Sure, our on-trade business completely vanished, and we were left wondering how we were going to shift restaurant and banqueting staples, the likes of Sancerre, Gavi and Picpoul. And there wasn’t going to be much to celebrate, was there? Prosecco sales hit the buffers, and champagne also slumped – although extra ageing much improves the Champenois product: if you feel like treating yourself at Christmas, chances are that it will taste better than ever – like actual, proper, champagne, rather than smart apple fizz.
“Every single wine from the EU will need to be covered by this new bureaucratic weight; crucially, it will entail payment of £300 for a bottle”
Yet there was a captive domestic market waiting for us, very much ready and willing. Our attentions were quickly turned. Furthermore, the evening bottle(s) took on extra resonance: it was no longer a case of whatever happened to be in the fridge or rack; there was positive interest in what exactly was being poured. We managed to do okay. And when lockdown ended, hotel and restaurant business swiftly picked up, with plenty of corks being pulled, often involving some quite fancy labels, too.
Every single wine from the EU will need to be covered by this new bureaucratic weight; crucially, it will entail payment of £300 for a bottle
Now to the present, where the mood is a little more sombre (apologies for stating the obvious). It’s always been the most important trading period of the year for those of us in booze (again, apologies), but this time that simply isn’t going to happen. Those months of April, May and June start to look rather halcyon, when the vibe was more upbeat.
Anyway, what better way to lift our spirits for 2021 than at long last having Brexit firmly in our sights? Although it appears that the wine trade’s attempts to ‘get going’ might be severely constrained by something called the VI-1 form. Unless I’ve missed a trick, and leaving border chaos aside, every single wine from the EU will need to be covered by this new bureaucratic weight; crucially, it will entail payment of £300 for a bottle, whether Pétrus or Lidl Pinot Grigio, to go to government laboratories for testing (a tad ironic, given etc.).
Rough estimates put this cost at £70m for growers/importers in the first year of its imposition, not quite the post-covid tonic for which we were looking. It seems someone in Whitehall has vaguely twigged, as a delay has now been put in place, the regime beginning on 1 July rather than in January. It would be nice to think that the issue is being properly addressed by our powers-that-be – after all, excise duty always comes in handy for HMRC, so it’s a shame to create this extra barrier for an important income stream. And one would hope Equipe Barnier are aware of what it might mean to thousands of vignerons throughout the EU.
Mmmm… my second glass of Chianti is going to be larger than the first.
