The day before yesterday saw an odyssee back and forth two times
to two different post offices in my neighbourhood to track down a
parcel.

Surprise when I saw the sender: Vignobles Magnaudeix in
St-Émilion. Even more surprise when I opened the box: 3 bottles of
wine. (These are the moments where I praise living in the European
Union where wine can be shipped without the slightest hassle from
one country to another without bothering about license, duties,
taxes or burocracy whatsoever.)

The wines are all from 2003 (with retail prices in euros ex
chateau for "France métropolitaine", mainland France):

Ch. Vieux Larmande (13.90)
Vieux Ch. Pelletan (12)
Le Tertre de Sarpe (8.90)

The first two are St-Émilion Grand Cru, the latter (the second
wine of Vieux Ch. Pelletan) is St-Émilion tout court.

And the most interesting detail: They come under Stelvin Lux
screw-caps! The first red Bordeaux under screw-cap is here, they
even managed to surpass Ch. d'Agassac!

I will open them shortly and post TNs.

How come I received them?

When writing my Vinexpo report, via google I found a page from
Sud-Ouest (the Bordeaux daily newspaper) that a third exhibitor at
Vinexpo besides Agassac and Alsace's Paul Zinck were showing
bottlings under Stelvin Lux screwcaps. These are the caps that
look like a traditional capsule, you don't see the screw from the
outside. I found the mail address of M. & Mme. Magnaudeix in the
French telephone directory on the web, and I mailed them last July
— without answer until the day before yesterday. (Btw, M. & Mme.
are not married, but brother and sister.)

M.

Michael,

not to be unpolite but were you about about the different meanings of
"screw" in the language of Her Majesty the Queen when you wrote the subject
of this post?

Best, tongue in cheek,

Santiago

The time for screw on caps has arrived. Cork can let air in when stood
up & decompose when left on its side for too long. Only wine snobs
reject the use of screw caps. As a lover of red wine I envy you. I live
in Pa. (not a hotbed of wine interest). Are you in Engand? I wsh I could
be there for the annual Beaujolais Nouvoux race.

"Michael Pronay" skrev i meddelandet
...

Surprise when I saw the sender: Vignobles Magnaudeix in
St-Émilion. Even more surprise when I opened the box: 3 bottles of
wine. (These are the moments where I praise living in the European
Union where wine can be shipped without the slightest hassle from
one country to another without bothering about license, duties,
taxes or burocracy whatsoever.)

Yea, sure ... provided you don´t live in Sweden, of course ... ((

Cheers

Nils Gustaf



--
Respond to nils dot lindgren at drchips dot se

Santiago wrote:

not to be unpolite but were you about about the different
meanings of "screw" in the language of Her Majesty the Queen
when you wrote the subject of this post?

Of course not. Honni soit qui mal y pense.

M.

"Nils Gustaf Lindgren" wrote:

Surprise when I saw the sender: Vignobles Magnaudeix in
St-Émilion. Even more surprise when I opened the box: 3 bottles of
wine. (These are the moments where I praise living in the European
Union where wine can be shipped without the slightest hassle from
one country to another without bothering about license, duties,
taxes or burocracy whatsoever.)

Yea, sure ... provided you don´t live in Sweden, of course ... ((

Yeah, those f@X*#+ß/\ monopoly states ...

M.

(E. Carl Speros) wrote:

Are you in Engand? I wsh I could be there for the annual
Beaujolais Nouvoux race.

No, Austria. Apart from down under (AU+NZ) and apart from the
special case Switzerland, Austria is the forerunner for screwcaps
in Europe.

M.

In message
"Nils Gustaf Lindgren"
wrote:

"Michael Pronay" skrev i meddelandet
...

Surprise when I saw the sender: Vignobles Magnaudeix in
St-Émilion. Even more surprise when I opened the box: 3 bottles of
wine. (These are the moments where I praise living in the European
Union where wine can be shipped without the slightest hassle from
one country to another without bothering about license, duties,
taxes or burocracy whatsoever.)

Yea, sure ... provided you don´t live in Sweden, of course ... ((

Cheers

Nils Gustaf



or the UK where duty is 1.24GBP +17.5% value added tax per bottle


Tim Hartley

Timothy Hartley wrote:

or the UK where duty is 1.24GBP +17.5% value added tax per bottle

Even on a three bottle gift pack?

M.

In message
Michael Pronay wrote:

Timothy Hartley wrote:

or the UK where duty is 1.24GBP +17.5% value added tax per bottle

Even on a three bottle gift pack?

M.

At least in theory, yes. Yu might well not be charged for something
like that sent as a sample but strictly speaking it could be held
until you paid up. The only exception is wine or spirits for your own
use which you personally bring back (accompanying it) from the EEC.
Many of us thought once we entered the EEC or Common Market as it then
was we would be able to buy wine at European prices and tax levels. It
was not the only thing we were wrong about but we were certainly wrong
about this.

Tim Hartley

In message
Mike Tommasi wrote:

Timothy Hartley wrote:
In message
Michael Pronay wrote:


Timothy Hartley wrote:


or the UK where duty is 1.24GBP +17.5% value added tax per bottle

Even on a three bottle gift pack?

M.


At least in theory, yes. Yu might well not be charged for something
like that sent as a sample but strictly speaking it could be held
until you paid up. The only exception is wine or spirits for your own
use which you personally bring back (accompanying it) from the EEC.
Many of us thought once we entered the EEC or Common Market as it then
was we would be able to buy wine at European prices and tax levels. It
was not the only thing we were wrong about but we were certainly wrong
about this.

It is now called EU ;-)

I know - it keeps changing its name but not its spots.

Within the EU there is no duty on wine. There may however be an excise
tax in various countries. As for sales tax, it is applied in all
countries, in the UK it is lower than most of the other 25 countries of
the EU...

cheers m8

I wish I could agree with you - there is an Excise Duty on all wine
brought into the United Kingdom — see:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...App.portal?_nf
pb=true&_pageLabel=pageExcise_RatesCodesTools&prop ertyType=document&id=HMCE_PROD
1_023923
unless, as I said, it is personally imported for your own use see:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...pp.portal?_nfp
b=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_InfoGuides&propertyTy pe=document&id=HMCE_PROD_01022
1

I have paid it too often not to know!
Cheers
Tim Hartley

In message
Mike Tommasi wrote:

Timothy Hartley wrote:
In message
Mike Tommasi wrote:


Within the EU there is no duty on wine. There may however be an excise
tax in various countries. As for sales tax, it is applied in all
countries, in the UK it is lower than most of the other 25 countries of
the EU...

cheers m8


I wish I could agree with you - there is an Excise Duty on all wine
brought into the United Kingdom

That is what I wrote ;-) No duty, but excise tax. This exists in all
countries, though at varying levels.

cheers

Mike


The confusion arises because it is officially called an Excise Duty
not Excise Tax — the pointis that payment of it has to be made
regardless of semantics. I am intersted to hear that you believe that
the UK Duty is lower than most of the other EU countries. Certainly
it is higher — especially as a proportion of price on the low and
middle to upper middle range wines — than in France, Germany, Italy or
Spain. I know some Scandinavian countries are worse than us but is
the majority of the EU?
On a bottle retailing here at GBP5·00 the Government takes GBP1·98 or
nearly 40% including value added tax. On a bottle retailing at
GBP8·00 it takes GBP 2·43. Dearer wine gets off morelightly in
proportional terms - a GBP15 bottle is taxed at GBP3·47 and a GBP25
one at ”only• 4·96 — but still more than the combined excise tax and
TVA in France.

Tim Hartley

Mike Tommasi wrote:

That is what I wrote ;-) No duty, but excise tax. This exists
in all countries, though at varying levels.

Not in Austria (nor in Germany, btw). And, afaik, not in France.
Italy and Benelux. VAT yes, but no excise tax. Don't know about
Spain & Portugal, but I'ver never heard of.

In fact UK & Scandinavian countries seem to be the only (don't
know about the new members in Eastern Europe, though).

OK, if we are splitting hair, it may be possible that the
countries who don't levy excise tax do have them, but at 0%. ;-)

M.

Timothy Hartley wrote:

Within the EU there is no duty on wine. There may however be
an excise tax in various countries. As for sales tax, it is
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
applied in all countries, in the UK it is lower than most of^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the other 25 countries of the EU...

That is what I wrote ;-) No duty, but excise tax. This exists
in all countries, though at varying levels.

The confusion arises because it is officially called an Excise
Duty not Excise Tax — the pointis that payment of it has to be
made regardless of semantics. I am intersted to hear that you
believe that the UK Duty is lower than most of the other EU
countries.

Caution, please read what Mike has written previously! *Salex tax*
= VAT at 17.5% is lower than in most EU countries.

Now let's have a look at VAT rates:

25% DK
25% HU
25% SE
22% PL
21% BE
21% IE
20% AT
20% IT
20% SI
19.6% FR
19% CZ
19% NL
19% PT
19% SK
18.8% EE
18% LV
18% LT
18% MT
17.5% UK
16% DE
16% ES
15% CY
15% LU

(For ISO 3166 country codes look he
http://userpage.chemie.fu-berlin.de/diverse/doc/ISO_3166.html)

So Mike is absolutely right.

[other calculus snipped]

Perfectly right, but that was not was Mike was talking about.

M.

"Michael Pronay" skrev i melding
...
Mike Tommasi wrote:


OK, if we are splitting hair, it may be possible that the
countries who don't levy excise tax do have them, but at 0%. ;-)

Yes, afaik, Germany does have such a tax as required by the EU. The rate is
set nationally, however, and Germany has selected 0%
Anders