Get your wine in France for your wedding reception and get advantage of the duty free

Buying your wedding reception wine in France can save you serious money. Following Brexit, it is still possible to bring back sufficient quantities of wine and sparkling wine for a wedding, while taking advantage of the tax exemption: 15% off the price in France. Calais Vins and Olivier Vins et Cie offer a stunning, curated selection of wines. And when it comes to advice, they are well aware of British tastes and can help with food and wine pairing ideas and choices. A visit to the in-store wine tasting bar allows the bride and groom to select the best wine for the menu they have in mind for their memorable event.

The most beautiful day of your life

All soon-to-be newlyweds look forward to their weddings with great anticipation – the most beautiful day of their lives. And many choose to select and purchase their wine themselves. And for this, there is nothing like a visit to the country of wine to find good advice and then make substantial savings on their purchases. Calais Vins and Olivier Vins et Cie, both located just five minutes from the ports or the Eurotunnel terminal in Calais, are the two closest wine ­shops in France to the UK.

How do you decide how much wine you will need for your wedding?

According to the wedding calculator, to find out how many bottles of wine to buy, you need to divide the number of guests by 2.15. So, imagine a wedding with 100 guests, you would need 46 bottles of wine.

As for sparkling wine or champagne, you need to divide the number of guests by seven. For 100 guests, you will need 14 bottles. But by why scrimp? Let’s call in 20!

Following Brexit, there are restriction on how much alcohol can be imported duty free?

The UK allowance allows you to buy 18 litres of wine per person, or 24 bottles of 75cl. It also allows you to buy nine litres of champagne or sparkling wine, or 12 bottles of 75cl. If you are having a wedding with 100 guests, you only need two people to bring back plenty for your wedding.

In the table below, we will see how much wine and champagne you need to buy for a given number of guests, and how many people need to travel to Calais Vins to not exceed your allowances.

Significant savings compared to the UK

Calais Vins and Olivier Vins & Cie have set up a seamless VAT refund system. Any traveller with a UK passport is entitled to claim a VAT refund if they meet the duty-free allowance. But not all shops offer duty free. That’s why Calais Vins and Olivier Vins & Cie have teamed up with Global Blue and SkipTax and provide an answer to their British customers. Since September 2021, they have implemented this innovative and seamless system that allows all British customers to seamlessly reclaim the 15 per cent duty that French customers still have to pay.

How does it work, it's very simple? 

Owners Olivier Vermisse and Jérôme Pont provide a tax-free form in the shop. All the customer has to do is then scan it at the port of Calais or at the Eurotunnel terminal and the refund process is activated. Truly a grape escape.

Lower taxes on alcohol in France

The UK is known for having some of the highest tax rates on alcohol. The tax on a bottle of wine with an alcohol content of 5.5-15% is £2.97 for a 75cl and £3.81 on Champagne. As you might expect, of the countries levying a wine tax, by far the lowest rate can be found in a country well-known for its wine: France levies a tax of only €0.03 per bottle. For example, for a £10 bottle of French wine – the sort of money that would get you a real ‘gem’, in Jérôme Pont’s words – would pay at least £15 in the UK.

Check out the tax on alcohol in the UK

And to make the most of your wine escapade, Jérôme and Olivier are eager to welcome their customers to their tasting cellar. For expert advice on food and wine pairings, just ask our experts; Jérôme and Olivier know their wines and, keen anglophiles, they also know well the tastes of their British customers. A curated grape escape.