A Tulsa business owner is warning about a coming spike in the cost of wine.
Noah Bush owns and operates a few restaurants in Tulsa, including Saturn Room, LoFi and Vintage Wine Bar. Bush says the cost of tariffs on imported wine proposed by President-elect Donald Trump will be passed to consumers.
“I don’t see a way — with inflation, with labor prices going up, with rent going up and insurance — I don’t see a way for us to take a hit on the cost of goods side for us in this day age,” said Bush.
Wine is a little trickier to import than some other goods because it has to go through multiple channels, Bush said, before it reaches consumers.
“The importer has to pay for it, the supplier has to pay for it, and then ultimately I have to pay for it on that tariff,” said Bush.
Some hope that higher prices for European wine will lead to an uptick in consumption of American vino. But Bush says there’s no comparison.
“I can understand the logic in that, but to me, it’s two completely different products, right? It’s like going to the store and looking for fresh strawberries, and they hand you a can of strawberry preserves,” said Bush.
Trump will be inaugurated Jan. 20.
