Instrument · free to use
The wine price calculator for the US market
Enter your ex-cellar price and watch it become an American shelf price, margin by margin, state by state. The same walk I build every diagnostic on, in simplified, indicative form.
What the walk is
By the time a bottle of imported wine reaches a US shelf, it has passed through freight and insurance, customs duty, federal and state excise, the importer's margin, the distributor's margin, and the retailer's, each taken on that tier's own selling price. From a European cellar the compounding typically lands at four to five times the ex-cellar price. The calculator makes each of those steps visible, so the multiple stops being a mystery.
Why the real work runs backwards
The calculator walks forwards so you can see the chain. Real pricing work runs the same arithmetic in reverse: choose the shelf price your name can win, walk it back down through the retailer's, distributor's, and importer's margins, and you arrive at the and the ex-cellar price the plan requires. Forwards, the shelf price is an accident. Backwards, it is a decision.
Why the state matters
The three-tier system is federal in shape but state-ruled in detail. Excise and sales tax change at every state line, and so do price-posting rules and discount law. The calculator carries representative state figures for excise and the average combined sales tax, which is why the same wine reads differently in New York and in Florida. On retail it also shows both consumer numbers: the pre-tax sticker the shelf displays, and what the till actually charges.
Run your numbers
- State & local sales tax$2.29Sticker price (pre-tax)$26.86
- Retail margin$10.12
- Distributor margin$5.73
- Importer margin$3.77
- Freight, duty & excise$0.75
- Your wine (EXW)$6.48
Indicative consumer price
$29.15
low $23.06 · high $37.51 · ×4.5 your ex-cellar price
The shelf reads $26.86. The till charges $29.15.
Sales tax uses the average combined state and local rate for the selected state.
Indicative only. Simplified planning assumptions, with margins that compress as your ex-cellar price rises and state excise taken at a representative rate.
Get the diagnostic for your wine →This is the simplified version.
The diagnostic runs the same walk on your wines, your states, and your real trade terms. In writing, and free.