Import

Since the summer of 2009 it has in theory been possible for private persons to import alcohol to Norway by mail. Before that you had to make the producer send it to Vinmonopolet, and it was a lot of hassle.

The news papers have written alot about how this new legislation is working, or rather not working. How the customs are having trouble handling it and such. I haven't heard of a single person actually importing wine by mail under the new rules.

When I finally found someone selling Doux Champagne I had to figure out if this would actually work. I checked the customs web page, according to them there was no trick to it actually. Just have someone mail it to you, and write the volume and the percentage of alcohol and the rest would take care of it self. So that's what I did. I got a tracking number from Champagne Fleury and could see how the parcel progressed. I was not so please when the tracking read:

Sendingen er under importbehandling og er midlertidig lagret Årsak: Importrestriksjoner, lisens kreves

Translated: Package is beeing temporary stored because Import license is require.

That stage passed quickly and it went in to waiting to clear customs. Nothing happened for a week, then I called mail service. They could not explain why nothing had happened to the parcel for a week, but promised to expedite it. A few days later I could pick up my 8 bottles at the post office for a sizable charge (value added tax, alcohol tax, tax fee).

The conclusion is that it really works to have people send you alcohol, just be prepared to pay a lot as it passes through the customs.

The Quest for Doux-Champagne

Champagne is one of my absolute favourite wines, along with Amarone and Port. If I were to only drink three types wine for the rest of my life those would be it.

In May 2008 Tabula Rasa (my wine club) held a Champagne tasting. Before this I didn't know that much about Champagne, but I learned alot that evening. Since than I have been taken with Champagne. One of the things we learned that evening in May was that in the past Champagne used to be much sweeter than it is today. Loving sweet wines like Port, Reciotto and Eiswein I figured that I aught to taste the sweeter Champagnes. Two Demi-Sec Champagne was available through Vinmonopolet. Each of them better than their dryer version in my humble opinion. There was not a single Doux-Champagne at Vinmonopolet.

Whenever I'm travelling I'm always on the lookout for new Demi-Sec or Doux Champagne, but there is seldom any good selection. So far I haven't found a single Doux Champagne.

Even Harrods, famous for having everything, did not have Doux-Champagne. When I was going to Oslos only resturant with two stars in the Michelin Guide, I figured this would be my chance. The probably have a large wine cellar, and one of those bottles would have to be a Doux-Champagne, but no.

During one of my trips abroad I decided to ask the wine shop on Heathrow is they had any. They didn't, but instead of leaving it at "No we do not." The guy went on to tell me that I should by Port in stead. Don't get me wrong I love port, but I wouldn't be asking for Champagne if I wanted to buy Port.

In cellartracker.com database I found some Doux-Champagne. Though wine-searcher.com I looked for someone selling these wines. I found only one seller that had any of them for sale: K&L Wine in USA. The one they had was even inside the price range that I could afford. After all other ways of getting hold of a Doux-Champagne had failed I decided I was going to order from K&L Wines. The import rules have just changed in Norway to allow for private import, so it aught to be possible. Again I was disappointed, the would not ship to Norway and a lot of other countries. So I was back at square one.

When K&L Wine failed, I decided to contact the producer directly, but them beeing French I'm not very optimistic that my e-mail in English is going to get me any where. It might be time to revisit the list from cellartracker and contact the producers of all the Doux-Champagne in the list...

Before I could complete this post, and before I could contact more produces the first one got back to me. My doubts were put to shame. They are able to ship to Norway and they have two different Doux-Champagne available.

Blanc de blancs doux 2000
Fleury 1995 doux

It's almost time to celebrate. Just need the check up on the import rules for wines in Norway. The short of it is that you can just have the wine shipped, and it will automatically be declared on entry as long as it is properly marked. The alcohol tax and VAT will amount to approximately the same as the wine and shipping cost. So on entry the price is doubled. Never mind that it is time to order Doux-Champagne!