Editor: Once again we are pleased to share Daniel’s insights with those not on Twitter. I think what disturbs us (amongst so many things so to do) is that ministers are lying about their consultations with industries, claiming to have support when they don’t, claiming to be working with those affected when they aren’t. Prentis is a case in point, but we’ll let Daniel tell this latest chapter in his extraordinary story.
We have now entered March on our #Brexit journey & as each day passes I get a clearer view of just how badly the Government have let down the U.K. with their shoddy little deal. In this thread I reveal all I have learnt in past couple of weeks.
The cost of importation of wine just keeps going up. I have now had to get another accreditation from the seven I already have, this time with Organic bodies as an Organic wine importer. This maintains status quo from 2020. If you import any organic products inc wine from July 1st you must be registered. Your organic wines have to be stored separately and we are due to have an inspection to check our warehouse is real I guess. What a waste of time.
To be clear I think both organic and vegan wines are great, I do not think paying £550 (of which got a reduced rate) to have a license to import and sell organic wines is doing anyone a favour. It is however adding cost.
Then of course we move to Vi-1 fiasco, the other requirement that is due to come into play in July 2021. On this front it would seem many have understood what a complete waste of time this is for the global wine trade.
The power of Twitter is incredible. My original tweet has given me access to very high profile people that is allowing my industry to speak out. For each RT & Like you make change happen. That is huge. My industry will be grateful when we win this.
10 days ago my industry sent a letter, as an entire sector, to government demanding Vi-1 were scrapped. The wine trade is a very passive industry normally, so for it to come together like this is unprecedented. But this letter signed by over 70% of the key importers, (and many would have signed it too given more time) sent an extremely clear message to government that they are not acting in the best interests of the U.K. wine trade.
I have since spoken personally to both main opposition parties at a very high level & these politicians understood very quickly just how bad the current government position is for our industry should vi-1 go ahead.
The wine trade body the @wsta has spoken to the EU Parliament and these MEP also understood very quickly that all vi-1 need to be scrapped. This is also a huge movement on their part from current legislation.
In fact you would be hard pressed to find anyone on this planet other than @VictoriaPrentis and @michaelgove that are still pushing for this to become a requirement for EU wines from July and of course adding further costs to your bottle of wine.
I should remind you that @Vicoriaprentis told both houses that “she worked closely with the wine industry and the WSTA when looking at Vi-1 & that we supported them” Funny how when checked nobody does or ever has!
To be clear the WSTA has never even met with @VictoriaPrentis and has never discussed Vi-1 with her. In fact every meeting suggested by the trade body has been rejected by her officials.
What is now becoming very clear is that wine logistics is in a very dire situation. Many producers still don’t know or understand the new rules and regulations for the export of their products to the U.K. What used to take days now takes months and more concerning the costs have gone up dramatically and show no sin of reverting back down. However I do question if they need to be this high.
We had our first invoice this week for the use of CHIEF. Each declaration is costing us £1.70. So whilst these declarations are time consuming I remain sceptical about customs agents charging up to £65 for them.
Moreover I hope pure logistic costs will decrease over the coming months. I am still waiting for my preferred European logistics partner to get its service up and running again since it stopped in January.
This week I was on a very interesting panel of speakers from around the U.K. From plants to @1CheshireCheese it was interesting to hear and see my issues are the same in these sectors too. It was great to chat with ordinary business owners who just want there voice heard & their businesses not to suffer because of the government desire to have this shoddy Brexit deal.
What’s clear is that all of the pain in the Food and Drink sectors could have been avoided thus far had the government not been so incredibly bad at negotiating and rushed It through.
In July things could get a lot worse for these businesses as the transition period finishes and there are still many issues to be settled.
It seems to me that social media is the only medium the government can’t control, and it’s interesting how the views expressed here are so very different from what you will find in most of the MSM.
If you want to help the wine industry please visit your local independent wine shop as they would be happy to see you & buy something you have never tried before. It’s what this trade is all about!
Originally tweeted by Daniel Lambert (Wines). 🇪🇺🇫🇷🏴🍇🥂 (@DanielLambert29) on 06/03/2021.
