All it took was a social media threat from President Trump on all caps, shaking with 200% tariffs on European wine on shipments of many Brunello, Chiantis and Prosecco.
In Tuscany, Italy's most famous wine export region, thousands of bottles for American tables are left behind in the chilly wine cellars of wineries and in the storage room of Livorno, the port city that sets out there.
“It all stops,” said Tigiana Mazzetti, sales and marketing manager for Old Cellar, a winery in the Tuscan town of Montepulciano, as she was standing in a box of wine bottles that was supposed to depart for the United States this month. “The damage is already here.”
So far, that's exactly what Trump's threat poses. But it was enough to suspend orders that the unstable American importers could pay tariffs that were unruly worth it to others, not only was it worth suspending the order. If customs duties are imposed and the entire amount is handed over to the consumer, a $20 bottle suddenly costs $60.
Along with France and Spain, Italy is one of Europe's most exposed US tariffs on wine, with many saying that the 200% tariff is devastating. For almost 15 years, the US was the largest export market for Italian wine. About a quarter of Italian wine exports, or about $2 billion, is shipped to the United States every year.
Over the gentle hills of Tuscany, there are its olive groves and country roads with Cypress lining, and the relationship feels particularly tight.
For decades, Tuscan-inspired, American-inflicted Italian-speaking wine importers flocked to Tuscany and brought their famous Chiantias and Brunello bottles back to American homes and restaurant tables. American wine lovers come to the area in large numbers – second only to Veneto for wine exports.
Probably not much longer.
Giancarlo Paykenti, on the slopes of the medieval hilltop town of Montalcino, sat by the prize he received for Brunelos from an American wine magazine when he described his fears for the future.
Paykenty, who inherited his father's winery, visits the United States several times a year. He exported wines that were made from Saint Joves grapes and aged in French oak barrels, across the Atlantic since the mid-1990s. Strong US demand helped his business grow, he said, and he sells almost 40% of his wine to US importers.
But now the importer is telling him to suspend further shipments.
“The pillars are falling apart,” he said. “We would never have expected to find a closed door that always had absolute freedom.”
Some producers said tariff threats have been added to other recent predicaments, such as the rise of non-alcoholic wines, beers and spirits.
On the other side of the ocean, importers said the uncertainty caused by the spread of the World Trade War forced them to take a break as cargo moving in the ocean could arrive at customs after customs has come into effect.
“The tariffs could be 200%,” said Brian Larky, American importer of wine from Pacenti, based in the Napa Valley, California. “That's enough to stop you with your truck.”
Importers responsible for paying customs duties can pass costs to customers, but will definitely cut sales. They can also absorb the costs of tariffs, erase profits, and require producers to pay part of the burden to earn income. But Mazetti of Montepulciano Winery said that 200% tariffs will “have all of us unemployed.”
On March 13, Trump announced his intention to impose overwhelming tariffs on true society on European wine and champagne. It was part of a fierce trade war with the European Union, which began with a batch of tariffs imposed by Trump. Bullock responded with what Trump called a “nasty” 50% tariff on American whiskey, poses a threat to “all wine, champagne and alcoholic products coming from France and other EU-represented countries” if the whiskey tariffs were not removed.
The European Union has since said it could delay its tariffs and give officials more time to do business with the Trump administration.
Trump said tariffs on European alcoholic products are “optimal for the US wine and champagne business,” but it may not be that simple. For most US wine producers, sales rely on small businesses (distributors, retailers, and restaurateurs) who rely in part on selling European wines.
“Italian wine is needed in Italian restaurants,” said Larkey, who imports 5 million bottles of Italian wine into the United States each year. “People are not going to substitute wine from Tuscany with wine from La Loire, Chablis or Chile.”
Last week, when we took a walk around Montalcino, some American tourists agreed, overlooking the valley of vineyards.
“It's going to be a huge loss,” says Dave Whitmer, 74, a retired doctor from Sonoma, California, who prefers Italian and French wines to homemade varieties. “I grew up drinking American wine,” he said. “But I grew up.”
Other American tourists said they ordered hundreds of bottles of wine from local wineries during their holidays and ordered stock before customs duties came into effect.
“I told them to ship immediately,” said Jennifer Mangason, 48, of Idaho.
Some producers were first rushing to stack American warehouses with bottles before the tariffs came into effect, but they say the windows are pretty much closed.
“Our biggest clients have already sent letters to Italian producers,” said Lambert Frescobaldi, chairman of the Italian Wine Union, the country's largest association of winemakers. “Because of this uncertainty, we cannot afford to bottle it and ship it.”
The Burgundy Wine Committee and the Spanish Wine Association, the industry association that promotes Burgundy wines in France, also saw similar trends, saying importers are putting their cargo on hold.
Ben Grossberg, who imported Portuguese wine to the US, said he cancelled his last container 15 minutes before he left his Portuguese warehouse. “The risk of putting wine in the water is too great,” he said.
Some importers who are more resistant to risk still have orders, but Frescobaldi said that if tariffs are actually enforced it would be a “fatal blow” to the industry.
“American market,” he said, “irreplaceable.”
The Tuskers still expressed hope that the European Union could somehow convince Trump to retreat. But even if the trade battle cools, many fear that at least some of the losses given amid uncertainty will not be cancelled in Tuscany and elsewhere.
Laura Mayr, general manager of Ruggeri Winery, which manufactures Prosecco in Northern Italy, said at this time of the year, she and her staff are usually organising promotional activities and tastings for American importers. But they had stopped.
“The damage has already been done,” Meir said. “We lost time at a critical moment.”
Roser Rates Pifale I contributed a report from Barcelona.
