UnicBOX

Free tool

US wine import price calculator

Model your ex-cellar price all the way to a US retail shelf — landed cost, federal and state excise, three-tier margins or DTC, CBMA credit, city taxes, and sales tax. Currency- and wine-type aware.

Your shipment

Inputs
% ABV
$
cases
Distribution route
3-tier: standard importer → distributor → retailer.
Landed cost — per case ($)
$
$
$
$
$
$
Trade margins (%)
%
%
%
Duties & extras
Tariff is ad-valorem on FOB. Presets are planning aids — confirm the current USTR / HTS rate for your origin.
%
Bottle deposit
ml
CBMA is a potential TTB importer refund against federal excise — not cash at entry. Uncheck to model full federal tax.
Estimated US retail price
per 750 ml bottle
Open state
$0.00
Indicative estimate — confirm exact duty & taxes with a customs broker
$0
per 9L case
$0
per litre

Cost breakdown — per 750ml bottle

How the shelf price builds from your ex-cellar quote.

Estimated retail price$0.00
Product Freight & logistics Duties & taxes Trade margins

Cash-flow timing

When each cost element is typically paid, per shipment.

1

Pick the wine type

Still is the default (≤0.392 g CO₂ per 100 mL). Once CO₂ exceeds that threshold, federal class turns on how the bubbles got there: sparkling is natural fermentation ($3.40/gal — champagne, prosecco, cava, moscato spumante); artificially carbonated is injected or otherwise added ($3.30/gal). Hard cider is a separate flat rate ($0.226/gal) for apple/pear products under 8.5% ABV. Mead and low-ABV wine reuse the still-wine schedule.

Why it matters: sparkling vs artificially carbonated is a $0.10/gal federal difference the calculator cannot infer from ABV — pick the class that matches your CO₂ source. The wrong type can over- or under-state federal tax by ~$0.40 per bottle.
2

Enter alcohol by volume (ABV)

Type the ABV as a percentage — 13 for a 13% wine, 14.5 for a fortified rosé, and so on. For still wine, the federal tax has three brackets: up to 16% ABV, above 16% and up to 21%, and above 21% up to 24%. State excise brackets vary — many states still split at 14% — but follow the same logic.

Why it matters: a wine bottled at 14.1% ABV pays about 50¢ more federal tax per gallon than one at 14.0%. Read the label carefully.
3

Choose the destination state

The calculator handles all 50 states plus DC. Two models are in play:

  • Open (license) states — importers, distributors, and retailers each add a margin. Most of the country works this way.
  • Control states — the state agency is the wholesaler and applies a single fixed markup, with no separate distributor margin. For wine that is only five states: Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming.

A common trap: most "ABC control states" — Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Idaho and others — run a monopoly on spirits only and license private wine wholesalers. For wine those are ordinary open states, and the calculator treats them that way.

You will see a badge in the results panel telling you which model applies.

Why it matters: the same €10 ex-cellar can shelf at anywhere from about $22 to $40 depending on the state — Wyoming at the low end, Kentucky at the high end.
4

Optional — pick a city or county

Some cities layer their own wine excise or a higher sales tax on top of the state rate. If your buyer is in Chicago, New York City, Anchorage, New Orleans, Cuyahoga County, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle, Denver, Miami-Dade, Houston, or major California metros, choosing the locality gives a more accurate estimate. Leave blank for a state-average number.

Why it matters: a bottle in Chicago pays $0.56/gal more excise than one in downstate Illinois, and 10.25% sales tax instead of 6.25%.
5

Enter your ex-cellar price and currency

Type the price you invoice at, then pick the currency you invoice in. If it is not USD, a second field appears for the FX rate — enter how many US dollars one unit of your currency buys today (for example 1.08 if 1 EUR = 1.08 USD).

Use the toggle to indicate whether the price is per bottle or per 12-bottle case. All the internal math is done per case, but you can enter whichever number is on your invoice.

Why it matters: a 5% FX swing at 30% importer margin, 30% distributor margin, and 50% retailer margin becomes a ~13% swing on the shelf. Update the FX rate before quoting.
6

Enter the quantity of cases

How many 12-bottle cases will ship. This drives freight and the CBMA credit. Wine credits are marginal: the first 30,000 gallons at $1.00/gal, the next 100,000 at $0.90, then $0.535 up to 750,000. Hard cider uses a smaller separate schedule ($0.062 / $0.056 / $0.033). The calculator models tiers per shipment; statutory allocations are annual per importer.

Why it matters: the CBMA credit is a refund the importer can claim from TTB — worth up to ~$0.19 per bottle if properly filed.
7

Optional — refine logistics, margins, and route

Click the "Logistics, margins, distribution route" panel to open the advanced controls. What lives there:

  • Distribution route — default is 3-tier. Switch to "self-distributed" if the importer sells straight to retail (no distributor), or "DTC" if the winery ships direct to the consumer (no distributor and no retailer).
  • Landed cost per case — ocean freight, inland freight, insurance, receiving-and-handling, storage. Defaults are 2026 mid-range Europe-to-US reefer container averages. Ask your forwarder for exact numbers if quoting a real deal.
  • Promotional allowance — per-case dollars you give back to the trade (samples, POS, incentives). Deducted from your effective FOB.
  • Trade margins — importer, distributor, and retailer margins as a percent. 30/30/50 is a standard baseline; premium wines often use lower retail margins.
  • Tariff — ad-valorem duty on FOB. Use the 0% / 10% / 20% presets for planning, or Custom for any other rate. Confirm current USTR / HTS rules for your country of origin — presets are not a live tariff feed.
  • CBMA credit — on by default. Uncheck to model full federal excise without the Craft Beverage Modernization Act importer credit (useful when comparing to the 2024 sheet, or when the credit may not apply).
  • Bottle deposit — available only for explicitly supported 750ml glass-wine cases (currently CA, ME, and VT). Bottle-bill coverage can differ by container, size, and wine product; unsupported selections are not charged.
Why it matters: these are the levers that turn a rough estimate into a real quote. Every dollar you tune on the cost side lifts the shelf price by roughly $2.50 through the three-tier chain.