Savannah wine bar faces fear, uncertainty amid Trump tariffs
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SAVANNAH, Ga. () – The wine industry is bracing for tariff impacts, and the Savannah Wine Cellar said they will see a small, immediate impacts.

The concerns come as the Trump Administration threatened to impose 200% tariffs on all alcoholic beverages from the European Union, last month. A 90-day pause on sweeping tariffs has the wine industry bracing for the administration’s next steps.

Savannah Wine Cellar Managing Partner Bridget Michalski said more than 60% of the business’ wine imports are from foreign countries. It is what drives customers to visit.

They represent smaller, family-owned producers around the world. However, economic pressures are settling in.

“We do know that we’re going to see increases because we’ve already had discussions with both our distributors and our importers,” Michalski said. “It’s just when a business’ costs get raised, it has to get passed on to the customer.”

asked if the small business is experiencing impacts to product availability.

“We haven’t seen a ton of it yet,” she revealed. “…just because a lot of products were already here in the U.S., both with our importers and distributors.”

However, Michalski said they are starting to experience product delays.

“A lot of producers and our U.S. importers did not put product on the water because they were concerned about things being impacted, even though they were already en route,” she explained.

Michalski said she also spoke with other wine producers, and they voiced that a lot of their glass bottles are from China. She revealed a lot of corks come from Spain and Portugal and winery equipment comes from Italy and France.

“We are definitely trying to stock up,” she said. “When the threat of the 200% tariff was on the table, it was terrifying to all of us. I think we did stock up a little bit to mitigate that. Whether in the short or the long term, it definitely affects our buying, which sometimes as a business, you’re spending more money than you normally would just to make sure that your customers don’t see as much of an impact.”

She said she hoped the Trump Administration can figure out a better solution before the 90-day pause time frame. Michalski said they will continue to stay proactive during the uncertain times and keep customers updated as things change.

“I think we’re all really, really worried because it could be devastating for our industry.”

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