Maison Sichel: ‘Brexit has been an opportunity’
When the UK voted to leave the EU, French winemakers mourned. But a decade on, one legendary Bordeaux wine company tells Amelie Maurice-Jones why Brexit has been a blessing when it comes to selling bottles to Brits.
In the immediate aftermath of the UK Brexit, distributors freaked out, stockpiling masses of French wine to steel against the chaos that would inevitably follow.
And follow it did, with the introduction of customs barriers between the UK and EU creating a headache of administrative hurdles and legal paperwork for wine merchants. As part of the new rules, French winemakers had to register with national customers, before filing a special export declaration form. Many producers were advised to pay an agent to handle the consignments, priced between €50 and €70, due to their complexity.
Merchants spoke openly of their woes: “It used to be pretty obvious that unless one shipped a huge quantity from the New World, shipping from Europe was cheaper. That is no longer the case” Simon Taylor of Stone, Vine & Sun, near Winchester, told The Financial Times, with Champagne makers lamenting the impact of Brexit on commercial sales.
‘We haven’t felt the challenges’
But now, a decade has passed since the fateful day of the Brexit vote on 23 June 2016, and six years since the UK officially exited the EU in 2020. And for Maison Sichel, a historic Bordeaux-based family wine house based in Bordeaux, Brexit has actually boosted trade.
“For us, it has been an opportunity,” says Max Sichel, seventh generation of the company which was founded in 1883. “We’ve heard of a lot of people suffering trying to sell their wines to the UK and finding it very difficult, but we’ve been there for so long that we know the routes, we speak to importers on a daily basis.” There’s more paperwork and the duty, which is increasing, but we haven’t felt the challenges.”
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For proof, just look to the winery’s sales. Maison Sichel, which works closely with UK retailers M&S, Waitrose, Booths and Co-op, toasted a record year in 2025, after seeing sales tick up over the prior five year period.
A long-standing relationship
“Previously, it was easy for anyone to just ship half a punnet of wine to the UK, and now they can’t do that,” says Allan Sichel, who heads up the business, and is also president of the Bordeaux Wine Council (CIVB).
“It’s a lot more difficult, and it’s not worth their trouble to go through all the admin and set everything up,” Allan continues. “For us, because we are long-established, and because the UK market is so important, we’ve set up all the processes and infrastructure to be able to serve the UK market as easily and continuously as possible.”
The company also has its own UK address in Tiverton, England, which also smooths the distribution process as it doesn’t have to produce a new label for each importer.
“In Bordeaux and elsewhere in France it can be a pain to export to the UK because of the various regulations, but for us it has been an opportunity,” Max, who spends three weeks of each month in the UK, confirms.
Over the past few years, he’s seen white wine and bubbles gain popularity in the UK, with Brits increasingly picking lower ABV wines with fresher, fruitier styles.
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