Wine List

Some wonder why wine is so crazy expensive here. We say that good wine is worth the price, but we know there can be sticker shock - Here is some industry inside information for you: 

1. Shipping - Shipping refrigerated is expensive. Due to the tropical climate in Belize and the warm climate of the ports in Houston and Miami we are dealing with refrigerated warehouses, ships, docks in Belize city, and barges to the island. This adds about $5 USD to every bottle of wine. About 3x more than non-refrigerated. Beware of the cheap BZ grocery store wines, they are being trucked through Mexico and NOT refrigerated. They are almost NEVER current vintage.

2. Belize Duty - Belize duty is based on the volume of the wine not the cost of the wine. This obviously hits lower priced wine harder as a % than more expensive wines. The Belize duty is $6 USD per bottle.  

3. Belize Sales Taxes - All wine sales in Belize will incur a 12.5 % GST in addition to the duty. 

4. Wine Cost - Lets face it, when buying 1 case of Kim Crawford for export to Belize vs. pallets to be spread across 50 grocery stores, we are paying more from the wholesale distributor at wholesale than they selling it for at the grocery store. It's why most of my wines in the US are Boutique small family wineries with a story. They want to be in a  small wine bar, they want to have their story told,  and so I get the same pricing on those wines regardless of volume. 

4. Summary- We will consistently look for great deals, affordable but good quality wines, wines we can share with our bars in the US to get better pricing for you here in Belize, and we will pass those savings on to you. Unfortunately, we cant add $11 USD in shipping, duties and import taxes plus GST to a wine and sell it at US grocery store prices. On a bottle of 19 Crimes that $11 USD exceeds what you pay for it in a US grocery store.

Now that you have the real story, we hope you will find our prices to be reasonable... Now scroll back up and pick out the wine you want to drink which is alot more fun!