Minneapolis winery sees Trump's tariffs as silver lining

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - With the fallout of President Trump’s tariff trade war, one local winery owner in Minneapolis is seeing it as a silver lining for his business. He makes his own wines and tells FOX 9 the import taxes will make his prices will be more competitive.

Wine tariffs could help Minnesota wineries

What we know:

Jeff Zeitler owns Urban Forage Winery and Cider House in Minneapolis. Despite controversy over President Trump imposing tariffs, he sees it as a leg up for his bottom line. 

"A tariff would be beneficial for a domestic grower who is facing that kind of uneven playing field," said Zeitler. 

How prices could change

The prices:

Zeitler makes his own wine downstairs in his winery. He tells FOX 9 a bottle of wine ranges from $30 to $45 depending on the bottle. Add the 20% European Union tariff on top of that, it could cost $36 to $54 a bottle if he got his wine from Europe. 

It's something grocery stores, restaurants and bars could be facing.

"I feel bad for, you know, places that are affected by the tariffs, I do, but at the same time, you know, I mean, competitively, it does put us at an advantage," said Zeitler. 

So how is he at a disadvantage if the tariffs weren’t in place?

"The French government may pay French wine growers to a subsidy to grow the grapes and to make the wine and then sell it overseas, less expensively, which puts an American producer at a disadvantage," said Zeitler. 

How wine distributors could be impacted

What they're saying:

We reached out to Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits of Minnesota, a distributer here in the state. They referred us to the wine and spirits wholesalers of America.

It said in a statement in part: "These trade policies create significant uncertainty in supply chains and pricing, affecting the entire beverage and alcohol industry, and the broader hospitality sector. Ultimately, consumers will bear the brunt of these changes."

It's unknown if tariffs on overseas wine would motivate people to buy from local wineries. But one customer we spoke to says, with everything expected to go up, it's a question mark if saving a few bucks on a bottle of wine would be worth it.