Importing wine

How to certify and label wine imported into Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Last updated 19 September 2025

Certification for imported wine

If you’re importing wine from outside the EU directly into Northern Ireland, you need to provide an EU VI-1 pro-forma. This is to certify that the wine complies with EU regulations.

You do not need to provide a VI-1 pro-forma to import wine:

into England, Scotland and Wales (from anywhere in the world)
into Northern Ireland from the EU

Paying tax on imported wine

Find out what tax and VAT you need to pay for wine imported into Great Britain.

Labelling wine imported into England

On 1 January 2024, new labelling rules came into effect for all wine imported into England.

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
takes responsibility for marketing the wine

You do not need to use the words ‘importer’ or ‘imported by’.

Wine moving to England from Northern Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man must also meet this requirement.

This wine can be moved to Scotland and Wales for sale, without the need to change the label.

EU wine labelled before 1 January 2024

Wine imported directly into England from the EU does not need to be re-labelled to comply with the current rules if any of the following apply:

it’s already been labelled in accordance with applicable rules at that time, and is being aged
it’s already in the supply chain
it was placed on the market before 1 January 2024

Non-EU wine

All wine imported directly into England from countries outside of the EU must comply with the current labelling rules.

Labelling wine imported into Scotland or Wales

Wine imported directly into Scotland or Wales must show the wine importer’s address, and prefix it with the term ‘importer’ or ‘imported by’.

This wine can be moved to England for sale, without the need to change the label.

Labelling wine moving from England to Northern Ireland

Wine moving from England to Northern Ireland using the Northern Ireland retail movement scheme (to be marketed in Northern Ireland) must show the name and address of a business that is based in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man.