The major festive seasons are just round the corner – the Muslim Eid il Fitri, USA’s Thanksgiving and Christmas/New year which is celebrated worldwide. Most families stock up on assorted drinks and WINE is one of them.

The wine industry is facing a big challenge now as a result of the shortage in supply of Grapes from California caused by drought.  The grape harvest has fallen and this will dovetail into an impending shortage.

There is an impending increase in the price of wine and by Thanksgiving and Christmas; consumers may be paying more for the high end wines or shift consumption to lower priced wines.  As the demand for high end wine far outstrips supply especially in the US, maintenance of the market share and stable prices will be met by imports from EU countries such as France, Portugal, Italy and Spain as well as non EU countries such as Argentina and Australia.

Wine imports into Nigeria come from South Africa and EU countries. Nigeria's wine market is burgeoning, but crippling import duties and complex bureaucracy could dampen the boom before it gets started, wine professionals say.

Wine sales in Nigeria stand at US$300m annually and this should hit $370m by 2015, But, there is concern that high import charges could further stifle the country's wine import potential. The duty tax on wine is about 20%, there is a 30% import levy and other ‘ancillary charges’ that bring the total import tariff up to close to 80% or 85%. This is indeed a big problem for both importers and consumers who desire good quality wine.

With a change in the destination of exports to US, Nigeria and other countries in West African sub-region may be faced with higher price of imports by end 2012.

The choice of which wine to buy or whether or not to buy wine at all rests with the consumer.