How much taxation is there on a bottle of wine?

Jim U: How much taxation is there on a bottle of wine?
If a bottle of wine retails for $ 25, how much of that is the direct result of taxation?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Mayor Adam West
Ready to crap your pants? Last I heard it is as much as 50% of the cost of a bottle of wine, beer and liquor is tax. Of course taxes to vary widely from state to state and city to city.

https://www.wine-searcher.com/fun.htm

https://www.lewbryson.com/buzz403.htm

Thanks Mitchell… I was under the impression that it included beer and wine also.

Answer by Mitchell Winery
It all depends on where you live, but here in Maine the numbers look like this.

Maine State Liquor Excise Tax –
30¢ per gallon for non sparkling wine
$ 1 per gallon for sparkling wine
25¢ per gallon for hard cider.

U.S. Federal Excise Tax –
$ 1.071 per gallon (14% ABV or Less)
$ 1.571 per gallon (Over 14 to 21%)
$ 3.151 per gallon (Over 21 to 24%)
$ 3.40 per gallon (Naturally Sparkling)
$ 3.301 per gallon (Artificially Carbonated)
$ 0.2261 (Hard Cider)

Figure five 750ml bottles per gallon, and that’s just excise taxes, you then also have to figure in the cost of licenses, permits, bonds, etc. on an annual basis. The rest of that cost more than likely goes towards vineyard/property upkeep, insurance, payroll, etc.
The wine bottles themselves can be quite expensive also. Anywhere from about 25 cents to a dollar a piece depending on how fancy the bottle is, and how many you are buying at a time.

The Mayor was right about one thing though, when it comes to distilled spirits, there is an astronomical jump in taxes. I think the 50% estimate is quite close as far as distilled spirits goes.