What makes up the price of an imported bottle of wine.
If you're unfamiliar with how wine importing works, here’s a brief breakdown of the costs involved:
- Purchase Price: This is the cost per bottle set by the winery or wholesaler.
- Shipping Costs: The per-bottle cost to transport the wine to Australia, which varies based on volume.
- Import Duties: A tax on goods brought into the country.
- WET (Wine Equalisation Tax): A 29% tax added to each bottle to support local producers.
- GST (10%): The Goods and Services Tax applied on top of all the above costs.
To put this into context, all these fees must be paid upfront before you even have a bottle in hand to sell. This full outlay is a big commitment with no immediate return. It helps explain retail markups, as the initial costs are significant. Does this justify excessive pricing? Not necessarily, but it sheds light on why wine can be so expensive.
On top of these costs, there’s the wholesaler’s margin, delivery fees, marketing expenses, and of course, the retailer’s margin. With all of this, the final shelf price emerges. I might be missing something, but this covers the essentials from my initial experience in wine importing—a venture I started with a beautiful French rosé, owned by a famous rockstar and his son. It was my pride and joy until large corporations stepped in, taking it over without so much as an email.
Importing is challenging by design, meant to protect our local industry. We’re fortunate to have an incredible Australian wine industry producing world-class wines. It’s high time we showcase more of these abroad, proving what we can do—yet it remains tough to afford imported wines locally!