After much hassle, pub landlords Frank and Jo Butt are delighted their delivery of more than 600 bottles of German wine has finally arrived.
Mr Butt - a former headteacher and now owner of Loddon's Angel Inn - said he has been battling bureaucracy for weeks to ‘beat Brexit’ and import the wine.
Mr Butt said he wanted to be "entrepreneurial" by importing the wine from his German cousins' Rhineland vineyard. But he said post-Brexit red tape had caused some headaches.
Mr Butt said: "The hassle I have been through to get it is unbelievable, we have encountered so many obstacles. But I wanted to beat Brexit.
“To me, 600 bottles of wine’s a reasonable quantity, but it was so hard to find a courier who was interested in assisting me with my ‘small’ import.
“Some merchants try and scare you off and make it seem like an impossible task. They say couriers will only ship a whole container load of wine and frown at my mere 600-bottle order.
“They talk about EORI numbers, VAT deferment accounts, BAF (fuel duty surcharges), CAF (currency exchange fees) not to mention the excise duty of course.
“So, you can understand our relief and delight to finally see it arrive here."
Mr and Mrs Butt took over the Angel in August and opened a tearoom in one part of the building, with Caroline from Rosy Lee's joining the staff.
Mr Butt said they planned to open in the evenings as a pub for the Christmas period.
The wines the Butts have imported include six award-winning titles, three of which have won international awards.
Mrs Butt said: “When Frank introduced me to their Dornfelder - a smooth and easy drinking red - I literally couldn’t get enough of the stuff, and now we’ve got all these bottles.
“Our customers are simply going to love this wine.”
His mother lived at the German vineyard as a child and he worked there as a teenager during summer holidays.
Mr Butt said despite the distance, the family connection remained strong.
He said he has encouraged his own children to stay at the farm and get to know the workings of the vineyard.
His youngest son, Ben, recently visited with his German grandma to practice for his mock German oral exam, and help package his parents' wine order.
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