Trump ‘Liberation Day’ Tariff Announcement:  Impact on Victorieux’s Grower Champagne Import Operations.

April 3, 2025

By Thomas M. Brems, President & Founder, Victorieux Champagne

Victorieux is my passion. I love grower champagne, particularly for the families and heritage involved. Also, obviously, the terroir.

As a child, I lived in Champagne. My mom owned a 16-seat restaurant in Aix-en-Othe, France, called Chez Cara. In, 2009, I studied at a Lycée in Troyes to learn French. I lived at the ‘Internat’ (dorms). When I rode the bus from our village on the weekend I awed at the vineyards atop the chalky mound of Montgueux. I saw the signs along D660, the Aube’s departmental road from Sens to Troyes, advertising champagne from the vineyards. The inspiration was planted then to import grower champagne.

At nineteen, in 2012, I had dreamed enough— I set off to accomplish my dream. I enlisted the assistance of my best friend from Lycée Edourad Herriot In Saint-Savine (suburb of Troyes), Jeanne, to help me find a grower champagne producer to work with. We had no meetings set, no idea how blissfully ignorant we were, and were set on a dream. One man responded to that dream with open arms, Cedric Guyot in Fontaine-Denis-Nuisy, located in the Cote de Sezanne about twenty minutes from Jeanne’s house. He is forever my friend.

At twenty, in 2014, I started at the University of Maine School of Law to learn how to import wine and manage the business I intended to start.

At twenty-three, in 2017, I launched Victorieux champagne, poised to expose ‘hidden-gem’ grower champagne producers to the US market. The focus was simple — it must be grower champagne; it must be sustainably produced, organic, or biodynamic; and, the producer must be someone I connect with personally. If you understand how the French do business, you’ll understand that the final element is the most important. That began with Cedric Guyot, under the Marque D’Acheteur label Victorieux. I imported solely to Maine.

Trump, newly elected for his first term, then initiated the first round of EU wine tariffs. Fortunately, the sparkling wine HTSUS code was not affected. However, the buying power and general chemistry of the wine market in the US was affected. Indirectly, Victorieux suffered from the challenge and stiffening of demand resulting in increased price sensitivity— the bane of grower champagne sales in the US.

Over the next two years, to the end of 2019, I sold Victorieux in Arizona, New York, and Maine. After numerous trade shows, such as Wine and Spirits Wholesalers Association 2019 and Vin Expo Manhattan in March 2020, prospects were promising and the business bloomed. I began working with a handful of other producer labels as their importer.

Then the pandemic happened.

In March 2020— shortly after catching COVID at Vin Expo and sleeping on an air mattress at my friends apartment in Brooklyn for a few nights (thanks, Wayne)— I was challenged with sales decline as a result of restaurant, retailers, and distributor appetites for ordering rapidly chilled. I pulled back to Maine. I had to reduce overhead and ensure a sustainable and efficient model.

In December 2020, my Maine distributor, my first, threatened to drop my brand if I did not reduce prices, despite no price increases since 2017 when I joined them. I then connected with another distributor in Maine until October 2024 when it became necessary to part ways. I then joined a third (and final) distributor, Zero, a newly formed distribution company in Maine that offered a more efficient method to reaching the market.

In this renaissance attempt, and eyes set once again on expanding to other states, I began working with a handful of other champagne producers. I switched my focus to by-the-glass options with a key group of restaurants in Portland. I was able to offer 750ml bottles as low as $22. This marked my second attempt towards offering multiple other grower producer labels in addition to Victorieux, one that is currently getting put on my back once again.

From October 2024 to March 2025, I sold more grower champagne than I had in all previous years. I secured key strategic partnerships with restaurants that found symbiosis with Victorieux. In connection with Zero I began working with other importers and suppliers.

Then the second round of tariffs happened.

The result is simple. If you like champagne, with traditional distribution and other markups from others, you’ll pay at least a range of $7.50 to $20 more per bottle at a retailer or restaurant once prices adjust. In some cases, if I were to pass along the cost of tarrifs, it would result in a bottle price nearly doubling at a high-end restaurant from current menu prices. However, with Victorieux, I am dedicated to maintaining pre-tariff prices and product inventory to satisfy demand for as long as it takes to provide any amount of certainty that I can. I will develop or leverage the most efficient paths to market to allow this.

I refuse to break from my dream. I will continue to maintain the certainty of my prices that have not changed since 2017. I do this because I love it. This is a carried dream from my days as a child riding the bus to school. The business is now 8 years old from our first sale, and 12 years total including initial R&D. I still have plenty of gas left in the tank.

My grower champagne producers, distributors, and clients can expect consistency and grit from Victorieux in the face of this challenge. I will continue to import grower champagne, and am doggedly dedicated to doing so. Some things are too important to me (and our network of customers). That is the level of passion I possess for champagne, why I refuse to quit, and why I will be Victorieux.

I appreciate your support. Please voice your concerns regarding tariffs on EU wine. The American people suffer from them, small businesses across the entire service industry sector (the largest in the US) will suffer from them. The people footing the bill are solely US importers, distributors, restaurants, or customers.

“In victory, you deserve champagne; in defeat, you need it.”