‘We’re losing sleep’: Atlanta-based wine businesses navigate trade uncertainty

The wine industry is one of dozens, if not hundreds, trying to navigate President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have changed shape significantly over the past month.

On March 13, Trump threatened to impose a 200% charge on all wines, champagnes and alcoholic products from the European Union, a major exporter of wine to the U.S. Last week, he announced 10% blanket tariffs and higher individualized rates for specific countries, including the EU, which would be hit with 20% tariffs. On Wednesday, Trump paused the country-specific tariffs for 90 days, causing further confusion.

Whether it’s 10%, 20% or even higher, businesses in the wine supply chain facing tariffs will likely have to absorb increased costs or pass them on to consumers. This is not easy for companies already operating on razor-thin profit margins.

“You don’t become millionaires in this industry,” said Pat Hiley, the director of global wine operations for importer Integrity Wines. “You live richly, but you don’t get rich doing it.”

To get ahead of the tariffs, some importers have brought in products preemptively and are stocked with inventory. Some distributors, such as Phillip Stice of Doraville-based Specialty Wines, are taking advantage of this inventory and spending more on European wines than those produced in California or Oregon. Others have stopped ordering product entirely and have resorted to other cost-cutting measures, like laying off parts of their staff.

Mike Coghlan, the owner of Norcross-based distributor Avant Partir, said during the session that he built a “cash cushion” after Trump came into office so he would have the funds to buy inventory before tariffs were imposed.

“Trump telegraphed what he wanted to do, we just didn’t know when, where and how much,” Coghlan said.

The uncertainty puts further strain on an industry already reeling from slumped sales. In 2024, American wine sales declined 6%, according to data from industry group SipSource. A number of reasons are behind this, including a smaller share of Americans drinking alcohol, tightened budgets and the availability of a wider variety of drink options.

This isn’t the first time the wine industry has had to navigate tariffs under Trump. In 2019, the U.S. imposed a tariff of 25% on non-sparkling wines from France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. At the time, Demmond was afraid that it would put Rive Gauche out of business, but the company survived.

With this new round of tariffs, everyone seems to be willing to help with the financial burden, Demmond said. Wineries and freight forwarders are offering discounts to alleviate some of the pain so that everyone can stay in business.

“The first round of tariffs, it took a little bit of time for people to come on board with that scenario,” Demmond said. “This time, they already had a plan in place because we lived through it. That’s at least been a silver lining.”

There is not enough domestic supply to replace all European imported wines, Demmond said. It’s an agricultural product, so to get the product in the bottle, new vineyards need to be planted, and it will take years for a vine to come to maturity to harvest for wine. By the time it would take to replace the volume of what the U.S. is importing from Europe, every distributor would be out of business before the volume would exist.

“I just live with a constant anxiety now,” Demmond said. “We’re losing sleep.”