ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) – A rainy day may make for a slower day at Hungry Hawk Vineyard & Winery, which is nestled in the Escondido hills.
"We're at the whim of the weather in a lot of cases,” Edward Embly, Co-Owner of Hungry Hawk Vineyard & Winery, said.
It's a family affair for Embly, who co-owns the place with his wife Jeannine, and his son Michael is involved too.
"Both my son and I are the winemakers,” Embly said.
The winemakers are aware of what's going on in their industry.
"I have heard about that tariff,” Embly said.
President Donald Trump is threatening a 200 percent tariff on wines, champagnes, and other liquors coming out of countries in the European Union.
That's if the EU doesn't pull back its tariff on U.S. spirits, which was a counterpunch to the u-s aluminum and steel tariff during the trade war.
"A 200 percent tariff would; wouldn't really affect us drastically, except it might increase some of our sales because the lower cost imports might not be as available,” Embly said.
"And it might end up we get more notoriety too."
The President also posted this'll be great for us wine and champagne business.
While the Embly and company wait to see their grapes grow, he tells me it’s a little early to see what impacts will be bottled with the proposed tariff.
"Direct impact to our wineries, I don't think it's going to change our pricing at all. The one thing it might do is open up more avenues for some of our wines - our local wines - to be placed in local restaurants,” Embly said.
“And that's always been a price point issue."
With a bulk of U.S. wine being made here in California, ABC 10News asked Embly if he thinks more people will buy what's being grown in the Golden State rather than overseas.
"California wines; there's been an overabundance of California wines. So, there is market pressure already. A lack of imports might relieve some of that pressure,” Embly said.
“But there's a lot of local wine; or California wine, that will really be a buffer between really great price increases. It's going to be what labels are available."
