The Headwinds of a Wine Merchant

Wine Industry

Jul 19

This news hit on July 12th just as our founder was “about” to finalize the latest container to import.

When Vero founder, Sheila Donohue, was contemplating changing careers and becoming a wine and food importer, she followed advice for all business startups: know all of your costs, know your market, create a business plan using prices that are both competitive but also allow you to achieve profit. In line with this, she researched end to end logistics costs, duties, taxes, existing products in the US market, their prices, etc. Tariffs were not part of the equation, hence not even considered.

Now that this year is halfway through, we all know that tariffs have dominated the headlines. One article cited that US tariffs have never been on this scale since the Great Depression: meaning that for most of us this is the first time we, consumers and businesses, have ever experienced anything like this.

How has the tariff conundrum been impacting Vero so far this year? That’s what we are here to tell.

First, for those who are not familiar with us, just a reminder of our story (refer to life of a wine explorer article…)

Then the following day came this news announcement.

Vero came about because our founder, after living in Europe for many years where she became a sommelier, realized that most of the wines, and olive oils, she knew, which were made by small artisan farmers, were not yet present in the US market. Hence, these are natural, authentic products whose sense of place shines through, and therefore, cannot be replicated by a product in the US. Vero is a bridge to discover these new, artisan made, wines and foods from around the world.

We are small, like the producers which we support. As a small, boot-strapped, business, we have been riding a rollercoaster ever since we were founded in 2018. The initial start was the most “normal,” then the pandemic hit… then supply chain constraints which hit us hard, from all angles. Then inflation. Then a slowdown in the US wine industry. Now tariffs.

At the beginning of this year, we were planning our next container of artisanal wine & food to import in. We were getting our heads around what many have called the “perfect storm” in the wine industry that led to a slowdown, which we started to notice in 2023. For a small importer, like us, for most of the products we import in, we do not know to whom and when we will ultimately sell the them. We literally have to make a guess when we make each order for each product from each producer, factoring in lots of things like past interest in a specific product, market performance and trends, client feedback, competition, etc. Then, since we choose sustainable means to import our products, relying on ships traveling across oceans and seas, the door to door journey from producer to our warehouse in California is a good 3 months long.

One of our producers orders held up due to the tariff fiasco.

Fortunately, the track record and support of our producers have developed fans among wine lovers and foodies across the US, people still “speak” with their pocketbook, hence big stores, big brands, private labels, you name it, are competing with the wallets of our customers. Nevertheless, having garnered lots of accolades for our mission of being a farmers market for wine & food across America, like our latest award of achieving Wine Artisan Champions of the USA, our formula of having a passion led business which continues to seek out hidden gems, proves that we are providing value-add to the US market.

However, our timing for the, now infamous 2025 container was abysmal. Right as we finalized all the orders for the many small producers that are all scheduled to be aggregated together on this container, come Trump’s mid-March 2025 announcement of 200% tariffs on wine from Europe, stopped us in our tracks. Guess who has to pay for the tariffs?… You’re looking right at’em: us, the importer.

What the tariffs announcement meant for us as a company, is that we had to start our analysis of each order, by each product basically from scratch. Remember: these are all educated guesses about what American wine & food lovers will ultimately buy from us. This takes not only time, but also energy, a lot of which is mental. Plus, having to go back to the drawing board with each producer to talk, negotiate, etc., meant time away from other things we need to do to keep our business running.

Finally, our founder made it back to Italy this summer to be on the same time zone and to finalize this container, meaning re-analyzing each order, getting on the phone with each producer, looking at market trends, our own customer behaviors, wants & needs, etc. Just as Sheila was about to finalize each order, Trump came out with this latest 30% tariff announcement on imports from the EU, up from the current 10%. This is like putting a bomb into our business model, let alone the detail product by product analysis & pricing, etc.

Mind you: us, importers, are in the crux of this tariff fiasco: we are in between our suppliers who many put lots of pressure on us, some who are out right angry with us!… like we have control over the US political agenda.

Fortunately, we have the support, and sympathy, of many of our producers, and our customers, as well. This re-affirms what we set out to do at the beginning, 7+ years ago: forming a community of people committed to authentic, nature made, craft wines & foods that are really special, starting with the farmer, and ending with the consumer and business who appreciates this amazing supply chain which we created.

This support has been priceless this year, and here is a shout-out to all of you that are helping us to keep our mission going.

What is ahead of us? Let’s just say that we need to watch the news carefully as we run our business, especially planning to finish this container and get it on the water this summer.

We are counting on your patience and continued support as we navigate these difficult and uncertain times for wine merchants, and all importers.

What more can you do to show your support?

- voice your opposition to tariffs, especially for wine and food, write to congress representatives etc

- give your business to small importers, like ourselves. Our futures are on the line, seriously.

Support Small Importers Like Us

We will continue to forage for and bring you incredible authentic, sustainably made, wild and scarce wines and food from around the world.

We sell to businesses and consumers around the US, from distributors, to licensed retail, wine stores and on premise, restaurants in certain states.

For those wine explorers and corporates who do not have our products at their local store, we sell online and ship across the US:

We have a free Somm at your Service whereby a sommelier / wine expert is just a Zoom or phone call away.
Check out our hand curated wine gift baskets which is a great way to get to know our selection of hidden gems of wine and EVOO which make for great gift ideas.
Put your wine exploration on auto pilot with our award winning wine club with monthly or quarterly wine subscription box options.
We love helping you to organize wine tasting events, and olive oil too. We help you pick the theme and we take it from there. Virtual events work well also, especially with your clients and colleagues are spread around the country. We do the heavy lifting and ship the wine individually to each person.
And you can always contact us with any inquiry.