A 15 percent universal tariff on imported goods has been rewriting restaurant wine lists since it took effect on February 24, 2026, and operators across the country are moving faster than usual to adjust as the 150-day clock on the measure approaches its July 24 sunset. The Supreme Court cleared the way for the change on February 20, 2026 when it ruled 6 to 3 in Learning Resources v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs, vacating the prior IEEPA-based regime. Four days later the White House replaced that regime with a universal surcharge under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, announced at 10 percent and raised to the statutory ceiling of 15 percent before importers saw a single entry clear at the lower rate.
Section 122 caps the surcharge at 150 days and expires on July 24, 2026 unless Congress extends it. That timeline is shaping what operators do next, because menus built on imported European wine are the most exposed category in the beverage program and the ones most likely to be rewritten before summer service peaks.
Wine Takes the Hit Harder Than Spirits
Lance Emerson, senior vice president of commercial finance at Republic National Distributing Company, one of the country’s largest alcohol wholesalers, told Reuters in March that “the pressure to pass through costs is mounting” and that the shift has been more pronounced in wine than in spirits because wine margins are structurally thinner. Retail shelf prices on imported wine climbed 5 to 12 percent through 2025 on the earlier IEEPA tariffs, and suppliers have since flagged 2026 increases of as much as 20 percent.
France and Italy together account for roughly 70 percent of US spending on imported wine, with France representing about $2.5 billion in 2024 import value and Italy close behind at $2.25 billion on 38 percent of total import volume. Spain sits fourth at about $391 million. Those three countries make up the core of most American restaurants’ European wine programs, and all three are inside the Section 122 net.
How Operators Are Moving Bottles
Kristen Goceljak, wine director at Kent Hospitality Group in New York, told Reuters she has been pulling champagne and Crémant off the company’s lists after February price jumps that added about $5 to the wholesale cost of one champagne previously priced at $48 a bottle, and about $3 on a Crémant. In Los Angeles, Chris and Christy Lucchese of Wife and the Somm swapped the Old World wines on their by-the-glass list for domestic labels and moved the cheese and charcuterie program to an all-domestic roster to keep the overall cost structure intact.
Those moves point at the tightest part of the menu, the by-the-glass tier. Dan Kleinman, chief marketing officer at Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, told Reuters that “the sweet spot in America is a $10-$12 glass of wine. If you edge above that you get knocked out of menus because many consumers don’t want to pay.” A NielsenIQ survey published in March found that more than 75 percent of wine drinkers say they are unwilling to pay more than $16 for a glass of wine in a restaurant, which puts a firm ceiling on how much operators can pass through before by-the-glass traffic softens.
California Labels Gain Shelf Share
The same Reuters reporting that surfaced most of the operator detail also surfaced a data point that explains why domestic brands have been picking up placements. Deutsch Family’s Josh Cellars, sourced from California, grew 8.3 percent in the 13 weeks ending mid-March 2026 while the overall US wine category fell 3.6 percent. Deutsch attributes the outperformance in part to tariffs on imported rivals pushing wholesale buyers to look harder at domestic bottles in the $10 to $15 retail band.
For California operators the tariff window doubles as a sourcing story and a provenance story. A wine list anchored in California bottlings carries a price stability argument through the 150-day window that European-heavy lists cannot make, and the domestic angle reads as provenance rather than compromise when the bottles on the page come from the state the restaurant sits in. Operators who commit to a California-first pour through the summer buy themselves a clean by-the-glass program at the $10 to $12 tier, a margin cushion on the category with the most tariff exposure, and a list that does not have to be rebuilt a second time if Congress lets the Section 122 surcharge expire on July 24.
Sources
Supreme Court of the United States, Learning Resources v. Trump Slip Opinion
White and Case, Trump Administration Imposes 10 Percent Section 122 Tariff
Reuters via BNN Bloomberg, US Menus Change as Trump Tariffs Hit Wine Prices
Wine-Searcher, Consumers Reject Expensive Restaurant Wines
Vinetur, 6.79 Billion Dollars Worth of Wine Imported into US in 2024
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