There are often few signifiers of a strong culture and a healthy economy as reliable as the fine, imported wine market, with bold, complex red wines paired to high-end meals, crisp, chilled white wines paired to expensive summer vacations, and of course, champagne for every party and celebration.
But just as Oklahoma City’s wine market is finally seeing the fruits of its labor and its long road to respect as a wine-drinking, wine-knowing community, federal moves, uncertain markets, and generational shifts in taste are already threatening the harvest.
With the Trump administration detailing plans for sweeping, general tariffs that would inflate the price of all imported goods and threatening a potential separate tariff aimed squarely at high-end European imports like champagne, many in the industry are already planning for some major market changes.
As Oklahoma begins to embrace the collectible, niche side of wine more fully, some beverage purveyors are ditching the Dom Perignon and Chateau Latour in favor of more esoteric selections, more hands-on import control, and even across-the-board price increases to cover costs.
Tariff uncertainty
As Trump repeatedly threatens and schedules tariffs before halting their implementation at the last moment, import markets have been subjected to an extended period of shock and uncertainty.
Early this month, Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods and an extra 20% tariff on all goods imported from the European Union before ordering a 90-day pause and review of some of those policies the same day they were set to go into effect.
Those moves have raised concerns about a possible run on European wines already stateside as suppliers and collectors may move to stock up and store bottles before price hikes hit new vintages in coming years.
This is all part of Trump’s stated efforts to strengthen the domestic economy and generate better revenue for American exports.
But export markets are also facing dire times due to retaliatory efforts across industries.
Canada – by far the world’s largest importer of American-produced wine – has already seen retailers removing all American-made beverages from shelves in response to Trump’s tariff orders, posing a significant threat to American wine revenue.
Likewise, the EU has threatened to impose a 50% tariff on all imports of American whiskey (one of the most lucrative American exports to Europe) in retaliation for Trump’s 25% premium levied against the EU.
In response, Trump has threatened a possible 200% tariff on all French champagne, a move that could be catastrophic to the often already expensive champagne market, as suppliers would likely decline to import the drink altogether rather than cover the exorbitant pay-on-arrival costs.
Domestic effects
Ian Bennett is the owner of The Study wine bar on OKC’s Film Row, and recently saw himself pulled to the forefront of the city’s recent wine renaissance when he was named a semifinalist for the first-ever James Beard Foundation award for Outstanding Beverage Service.
With more than two decades in wine and restaurant service between OKC and Los Angeles, he knows about the prevailing trends of the market and how they stand to weather or wilt in the coming economic storm.
“This city is different from other cities I’ve seen, because so much of our wine culture here has always been about steakhouses,” Bennett said. “And that means it’s mostly about California cabernet, and I don’t think that’s going to change.”
But while discerning business owners like Bennett are prepared to eat the added costs of tariff-hit imported wines in order to protect the diversity and range of their selection, he expects consumers to see those margins made up in very different places, including in those California reds that Okies love.
“What you’re probably going to see is places reducing their margins on stuff like French wine, but then just increasing their margins on domestics to make up for it,” he said. “And honestly, you’ll probably see restaurants raising their prices on food first, because that’s where they have the most room in their margins already.”
Changing tastes
The uncertainty caused by tariff threats is also coming on top of an already uncertain time for the wine and beverage market, as changing tastes and trends have seen major shifts in the industry in recent years, especially as younger generations are reportedly drinking much less.
“There is a trend toward drinking less, yes,” said Tony Rivera, owner of the recently opened Monopole Wine Co. on Western, a small boutique wine retailer focused more on niche offerings and collection management. “But I think that people still want to drink wine.”
Rivera opened his store in December of 2024 with the specific intention of catering to an often younger crowd that’s more interested in smaller-run wines and beverages often from lesser-known wine-producing regions, a strategy that feels tailored to weathering tariffs aimed at more established products.
“If people can’t get the stuff they know,” he said, “then it’ll just take more hand-selling and more work on our part to introduce people to the other cool stuff that we can get more easily.”
Part of that, he explained, could even mean retailers and restaurateurs making trips overseas themselves to secure, import, and offer foreign wines without the need for multiple levels of middlemen, making it easier to absorb the added costs of tariffs.
“If it’s something really interesting that our customers want and can only get through us,” he said, “then it’s easier to fit that into our margins.”
Growing concerns
Even as wine-specific tariffs may or may not go into effect, any blanket tariff on EU imports is likely to have an outsized effect on the wine industry.
American wine producers rely heavily on French oak and European cork, nearly half of which comes from Portugal.
As wine is bottled, sold, collected, and evaluated by vintage, with some aged for years before ever reaching shelves – any significant tariff could have an effect on the industry for years to come.
But these business owners are ready to do whatever they can to keep the city’s burgeoning wine community growing and to keep offering a diverse selection, even if that means shifting attentions away from certain areas and toward others as the market dictates.
“What we’ve done over the past five years since we opened is what got us recognized,” Bennett said about The Study. “So no, I’m not going to change my service. Prices make change, and our selection might change, but I’m not changing my service.”
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
