[turtleblues]

Hello everyone. I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I have been here a few times and have found it very helpful on a number of occasions.
My wife and I are seriously interested in retiring to France. We have been in contact with a few realtors and have been searching for homes online. Our main house in on the market and as soon as it sells we will head to France and spend a few weeks looking for the right home. We are interested in the Dordogne region or South west and seem to gravitate toward the renovated barns with some extensive gardens.
My question today is, I have a moderate wine cellar that I would like to take with me, around 300 - 400 bottles, most of which is home made with around 100 bottles of California wines.
I have searched and cannot find what the import duty would be on this. if it is too high I guess I'll spend some time drinking myself into a coma or give it away to family and friends.
can anyone give me a direction where I could find this information?
Thank you all

 

[Bevdeforges]

Well, this is the info from the French customs people: Importation et exportation des vins en dehors de l'Union européenne

But I don't see any mention of wines being imported as part of your household effects. Normally, if you're bringing in your personal belongings with no intention of selling them within the first year or so of your residence in France, there isn't supposed to be any customs duty or other fees.

You may want to check with an international mover - or have the mover check with their customs clearing agent in France. You are probably not the first (nor the last) to move a personal wine collection to France.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[turtleblues]

thank you Bev.
That is a good suggestion, one I had not thought of. I'll try an International mover next week and see if they have any information.

 

[Stevesolar]

:Hi,
In the UK - there is a saying about "bringing coal to Newcastle".
That saying really applies in your case - bringing wine from the USA to the "home" of European fine wines!
Good luck with the move!
Cheers
Steve

 

[Bluesma]

I think you might not be able to get out of paying customs fees. You might have to come up with documents to declare the value (proforma invoices). http://http://www.douane.gouv.fr/articles/a10789-demenagement-en-france-les-operations-ne-permettant-pas-de-beneficier-de-la-franchise

What you need to do is contact a broker ( transitaire in french). They can help you handle it effectively, get together the right documents, and make the declaration en douane.
Look up transitaires in the area you are moving to.

If you have a moving company, they probably have a broker they use regularly. If you want to shop around and choose your own, it might be worth it. The fee will calculated based upon the value of the wine plus the price of transport.

They will have to make sure to have the goods exonnerated from the TVA as well (which is possible with personal goods not destined for sale).

 

[Bevdeforges]

:Hi,
In the UK - there is a saying about "bringing coal to Newcastle".
That saying really applies in your case - bringing wine from the USA to the "home" of European fine wines!
Good luck with the move!
Cheers
Steve

Hey, good California wines are well worth lugging coals to Newcastle. But I do note the OP has mentioned that "most" of the bottles are homemade. Those may pose something of a problem - and could be a good reason to start planning a massive farewell party to try to consume at least the homemade stock before departure. I do note that the customs rules seem to place emphasis on "testing" of the product and determining its authenticity, which could be a problem with the homemade wine.

Oh, and if the collection includes any of the California bubbly labeled "champagne" I suspect that may not pass muster, either, due to strict French and EU labeling regulations.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[Bluesma]

Hey, good California wines are well worth lugging coals to Newcastle. But I do note the OP has mentioned that "most" of the bottles are homemade. Those may pose something of a problem - and could be a good reason to start planning a massive farewell party to try to consume at least the homemade stock before departure. I do note that the customs rules seem to place emphasis on "testing" of the product and determining its authenticity, which could be a problem with the homemade wine.

Oh, and if the collection includes any of the California bubbly labeled "champagne" I suspect that may not pass muster, either, due to strict French and EU labeling regulations.
Cheers,
Bev

California labels them "Sparkling wine" so that shouldn't be a problem. Creating a Proforma for the homemade wines is easy to do. The testing only happens with good meant for sale and with demands for a specific label.

 

[DejW]

I really can't help with advice on customs etc....it's clear that others have posted good advice.

Some comments that may help...

1. You will find total incomprehension amongst the French as to why you want to import wine into France....."after all French wines are superior to all" (with Gallic shrug of shoulders and jutting chin). I'm not in agreement. However for the French the evidence is to be found in most (but not all) supermarkets where they sell only French wine, perhaps with some horribly cheap wine from the ex colonies of Algeria and Tunisia.
   
2. 
   
3. On several occasions I've brought back English wine from visits to the UK. I'm not a great fan of it, but it exists. I invited some (close!) French friends for blind wine tasting evening where we compared the English wine with [U French[/U] wine from the Alsace. To the surprise of all the English wine came out tops. These wine tastings became a hot subject of discussion in the village. (How it this possible etc?) I've also done the same thing with 2 Scottish friends who are connoisseurs of Scotch whisky. Again, blind tastings, only this time I tried Irish whiskey, Canadian Club and some rather expensive bourbon from the US. I'll leave it at " a great time was had by all"!

DejW

Hello everyone. I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I have been here a few times and have found it very helpful on a number of occasions.
My wife and I are seriously interested in retiring to France. We have been in contact with a few realtors and have been searching for homes online. Our main house in on the market and as soon as it sells we will head to France and spend a few weeks looking for the right home. We are interested in the Dordogne region or South west and seem to gravitate toward the renovated barns with some extensive gardens.
My question today is, I have a moderate wine cellar that I would like to take with me, around 300 - 400 bottles, most of which is home made with around 100 bottles of California wines.
I have searched and cannot find what the import duty would be on this. if it is too high I guess I'll spend some time drinking myself into a coma or give it away to family and friends.
can anyone give me a direction where I could find this information?
Thank you all