Exporting wine to the United Kingdom. The VI-1 is gone, the duty isn't.
In the United Kingdom Italian wine no longer needs the VI-1. It does, however, have a label that changes between England and Scotland, and a duty calculated on alcohol, not on price.
The VI-1 is not needed. For wine arriving from the European Union in England, Scotland or Wales the UK government guidance, updated 19 September 2025, does not require the VI-1.
The label depends on the nation of arrival. In England it carries the name and address of a business based in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, with no requirement for the word «importer». In Scotland and Wales it carries the importer's address preceded by «importer» or «imported by».
The duty is £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol. This is the rate in force from 1 February 2026 for wine between 8.5% and 22%: a 0.75 litre bottle at 13% pays about £2.99.
This page is part of exporting wine: the documents, who issues them and when they are needed, and covers the British market. The rules common to every food after Brexit, from the safety declaration to REX, are in exporting food to the United Kingdom.
How to export wine to the United Kingdom: what changes compared with a food
To export wine to the United Kingdom three things count that an ordinary food doesn't have: the VI-1, which is not needed from the European Union; the label address, which differs between England on one side and Scotland and Wales on the other; and alcohol duty, calculated on litres of pure alcohol and added to the price of every bottle.
| Item | What the United Kingdom requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| VI-1 | Not needed for wine from the European Union to Great Britain. | GOV.UK, 19 September 2025 |
| Label in England | Name and address of a business based in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man. | GOV.UK |
| Label in Scotland and Wales | Importer's address, preceded by «importer» or «imported by». | GOV.UK |
| Alcohol duty | £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol, wine from 8.5% to 22%. | GOV.UK, 1 February 2026 |
The VI-1 is no longer needed
To import wine from the European Union into England, Scotland or Wales the VI-1, the document that used to accompany imported wine, is not needed. The UK government guidance on importing, selling and labelling wine, updated 19 September 2025, says so. The VI-1 remains only for wine entering Northern Ireland from outside the EU.
The wine label: England versus Scotland and Wales
Wine imported into England must show the name and address of a business based in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, which takes responsibility for marketing it. The words «importer» or «imported by» are not mandatory, as the same guidance specifies.
«Wine imported into England must show the name and address of a business that is based in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man» (GOV.UK, importing, selling and labelling wine)
Wine imported directly into Scotland or Wales follows a different rule: it carries the importer's address preceded by «importer» or «imported by». Before printing back labels for the United Kingdom, the question for the importer is which of the nations the wine enters, because a label that is right for London may not be right for Edinburgh.
The other labelling rules belong to the Food Standards Agency. The British label is added to the European base of Article 119 of Regulation (EU) 1308/2013, described on the page about wine documents and its label.
UK alcohol duty on wine: per litre of pure alcohol
In the United Kingdom alcohol duty on wine is calculated on litres of pure alcohol, that is volume times strength, multiplied by the rate for the band. For wine from 8.5% to 22% the rate in force from 1 February 2026 is £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol, according to the UK government table.
An example, built to explain the calculation and not taken from a real client: a 0.75 litre bottle at 13% contains 0.0975 litres of pure alcohol, and pays about £2.99 in duty. On 600 bottles that is about £1,791. At the same price, a wine at 14.5% pays more than one at 12%.
| Bottle | Litres of pure alcohol | Duty at £30.62 |
|---|---|---|
| 0.75 litres at 12% | 0.0900 | £2.76 |
| 0.75 litres at 13% | 0.0975 | £2.99 |
| 0.75 litres at 14.5% | 0.1088 | £3.33 |
| 1.5 litres at 14.5% | 0.2175 | £6.66 |
Who pays the duty is decided by the agreement with the importer and the Incoterm written in the offer, as explained in Incoterms: who pays what. The rate is rechecked on the UK government page before every offer.
The template, to download
One file, two sheets. The first is the checklist, with the source next to each line and a drop-down status to fill in. The second takes volume, alcohol strength and number of bottles, checks the band and works out UK alcohol duty per bottle and per shipment, with an editable rate.
| File | What it contains | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Wine in the United KingdomExcel, two sheets | Eight checklist lines with the source, and the duty calculation per bottle and per shipment. |
The files are free. There is no form in front of them, we don't ask for an address and we receive no notification when someone downloads them. UK VAT is not in the sheet.
Questions and answers
Do you need a VI-1 to export wine to the United Kingdom?
No, for wine arriving from the European Union in England, Scotland or Wales. The UK government guidance on importing, selling and labelling wine, updated 19 September 2025, says so.
The VI-1 remains only for wine entering Northern Ireland directly from outside the European Union.
Which address goes on the label of wine exported to the United Kingdom?
It depends on the nation of arrival. In England, the name and address of a business based in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, with no requirement for the words importer or imported by.
In Scotland and Wales, the importer's address preceded by importer or imported by.
How much is the alcohol duty on wine in the United Kingdom?
For wine from 8.5% to 22% alcohol, £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol, according to the UK government table in force from 1 February 2026. Litres of pure alcohol are the volume times the alcohol strength.
A 0.75 litre bottle at 13% pays about £2.99.
Does UK alcohol duty on wine depend on the price?
No, it depends on the alcohol. It is calculated on the litres of pure alcohol, volume times strength, multiplied by the rate for the band: at the same price, a wine at 14.5% pays more than one at 12%.
On a 0.75 litre bottle, from 12% to 14.5% the duty goes from about £2.76 to about £3.33.
Who pays the alcohol duty on wine exported to the United Kingdom?
Whoever releases the wine for consumption in the United Kingdom, according to the agreement with the importer and the Incoterm written in the offer.
It is worth putting it next to the ex-cellar price in the offer itself, because it changes with the alcohol strength of each wine.
Notes on sources
- GOV.UK, importing, selling and labelling wine, updated 19 September 2025: the VI-1, the label in England and the one in Scotland and Wales. The quotation marks enclose the text verbatim.
- GOV.UK, Alcohol Duty rates, updated 1 February 2026: £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol for wine from 8.5% to 22%, and the calculation by volume and strength.
- The numerical examples are built to explain the calculation and are not taken from a real client. The sources were read on 25 September 2026; the rate is rechecked before every offer.
In the United Kingdom the first question is which nation the wine enters.
The label depends on that. The duty, instead, is worked out before the offer, bottle by bottle. With Itria we start from the outside to build custom digital systems for exporters. For you that translates into more requests, fewer losses and less manual work. Write us a line about what weighs on you. We take the first step: what a buyer sees when they look you up, and what we found there. Even if we don't end up working together.