Trump wine tariffs are poised to leave sour grapes (yet again) in Charlotte
As the Trump administration’s threatened 200% tariffs on European wines are set to go into effect next week, restaurants and wine shops across Charlotte are preparing for the worst.
At Omakase by Prime Fish in Cotswold, Terrell Johnson, the restaurant’s wine director, pours a glass of 2020 Château de Chamirey.
“This is Premier Cru, $50 by the glass,” he said. “But if and when the tariffs do go into effect and I have to buy new bottles, the price per glass will go up to $150.”
Among Charlotte restaurants and wine shops, “if and when” seems to be the consensus approach on the possibility of impending tariffs.
When President Trump announced blanket 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum products being exported to the U.S., the European Union responded with tariffs of its own: 50% on American-produced whiskeys.
In retaliation, the president upped the ante by threatening 200% tariffs on all European wines.
A repeat of 2019 tariffs?
It’s not the first time Trump has threatened to impose wine tariffs.
In 2019, during his first term, Trump implemented 25% tariffs on all European goods, including wine, and those tariffs remained in effect until 2021, when President Biden lifted them.
“We’ve been through this before,” Johnson told CharlotteFive.
The Château de Chamirey, a pinot noir from the Burgundy Côte Chalonnaise region of France, tastes of dark cherries with hints of vanilla and cinnamon.
Johnson stares plaintively into the glass, saying: “And it made me a better, more savvy sommelier.”
That meant pivoting.
Like a lot of wine directors in 2019, Johnson turned to stocking his cellar with high-quality wines from other places — South Africa, Australia, South America and basically anywhere not in Europe — all without affecting the dining experience for customers.
“If and when the time comes,” he said, speaking of the new 200% tariff threat, “I’m not going to be panicking too much because I’m better prepared for what we’ll have to do.”
Stocking up on wine now
On the other hand, across town in NoDa at the Exchange on 36th, Jerry Chandler, wine buyer for the Exchange CLT group, as well as general manager and wine buyer for The Bohemian: A Wine Bar in Plaza Midwood, feels a lot less prepared.
“Sure, I planned ahead as best I could,” he said. “So just like all the other wine buyers in town, I’m trying to get five to 10 cases of everything I can get my hands on.”
However, the problem, as Chandler sees it, is timing. If the 200% tariffs go into effect as threatened on April 2, and the wines he ordered are in containers on ships still on their way to Charlotte, then he will be liable for the increased prices.
“And that’s not the worst of it,” he said. “There’s a trickle-down effect with these things. The people who make those wines aren’t doing it to get wealthy, and they’re going to be impacted the most. It’s backbreaking work to get you this thing that you consider to be a luxury.”
Michael Klinger, wine director for the Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group, shares the concerns and is also trying to prepare.
At Supperland, the restaurant group’s crown jewel, more than 50% of the restaurant’s wine list is dedicated to European wines. The prospect of replacing those with wines that will meet the expectations of customers who come for a high-end, church-potluck style experience is a daunting one.
Added to that, the group is in final preparations to open its newest venture, Leluia Hall, where Klinger is also crafting the wine program. He’s hedging his bets on if and when the new tariffs will take effect.
“I’m at the point now where I need to decide if I should move in a direction that’s a little more South African or a little more Australian,” he said.
For Klinger, though, the tariffs mean more than just being prepared to pivot, and he echoes Chandler’s concerns over what happened in 2019.
“Sure, those were ‘only’ 25% tariffs and ‘only’ on European wines,” he said. “But what people don’t necessarily understand is how many American companies were affected, how many American jobs were lost. And if that was just as a result of 25% tariffs, what happens at 200%?”
An uncertain outlook
What happens is anyone’s guess, but Chris Sarette, owner of Frenchy’s Sip & Shop in South End, wouldn’t bet on the tariffs going into effect.
“There are so many small things that happen during the day that you have to attend to that it’s hard to plan for something that’s still theoretical,” he says.
Despite the wines-by-the-glass menu at Frenchy’s being entirely wines from Europe, he doesn’t anticipate needing to change prices. His recollection of 2019 differs somewhat in that he remembers the window during which the tariffs were in effect was short enough that many wine buyers and bar owners didn’t have to change prices too much, if at all.
“If and when these new ones go into effect,” Sarette said, “I anticipate the same.”
.jpeg "image0 (1).jpeg")
Customers at Frenchy’s one recent night, however, didn’t share Sarette’s guarded optimism.
TJ Root, an additive applications engineer, and his wife, Amanda Root, a product manager and designer, consider Frenchy’s one of their go-to spots and are themselves wine collectors.
“I’m scared,” TJ Root said. “And it’s not just that they’re going to affect restaurants, bars, wine shops. It’s that they’re going to affect everyone.”
“Do we enjoy Euro wines? Yes. Are there American wines that we enjoy just as much? Also yes,” he said. “These tariffs are going to have an impact on the availability of American wines, and we can or can’t get certain European wines as it is already.”
“We’re stocking up,” Amanda Root said.
Not without humor, though, TJ Root has a message for President Trump.
“‘It will be great for American champagnes,’” he said, quoting the president. “Who’s going to break it to him?”
The joke being: Champagnes are sparkling wines that come only from the Champagne region of France.
Everything else is just sour grapes.
This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
