Tariffs are Changing Menus, Dropping French Wines For Homegrown Brands

Tariffs are Changing Menus, Dropping French Wines For Homegrown Brands – Moby

The Trump tariffs have reached restaurant and bar menus. Thanks to a 10–15% levy on most EU imports, bottles from Europe are getting $5 pricier overnight, and shipments are already down 8%.

U.S. labels, meanwhile, are seeing sales jump more than 8%. American wine is having a moment it didn’t entirely earn.

In August 2025, the U.S. imposed a 15% tariff on most EU imports under the IEEPA, wine and spirits included, under a broader trade deal that quietly left alcohol out of its exemptions. In February 2026, SCOTUS struck down parts of that framework, forcing a reset, but the baseline has held at 10–15%. A single bottle of champagne jumped from $48 to ~$53 wholesale. Retail prices on imported wines rose 5–12% in 2025, with more increases expected.

Bars and restaurants are redrawing their wine lists and going local. For American brands, the tariffs are functioning less like trade policy and more like a government subsidy: Josh Cellars saw an 8.3% sales increase. But the broader industry is taking real damage. Tariff-related losses are mounting toward $2 billion, with thousands of hospitality jobs at risk.

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Then there’s the sober-curious Gen Z cohort, not exactly rushing to replace aging drinkers, keeping overall alcohol demand well under control. The global low/no-alcohol market hit $11 billion in 2025, growing at 7% annually.

Connoisseurs aren’t pleased, and for a reason that makes this particularly irreversible: unlike cars or pharmaceuticals, winemakers cannot pick up their vineyards and move them somewhere tariff-friendly. Champagne only exists in Champagne. So rather than absorbing the cost and passing it to customers, buyers are pulling those bottles from lists entirely. At that price, with that hassle, domestic wine is suddenly good enough.

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