Archive for the ‘Shipping Wine’ Category

Feb 20, 2006

Wine Wholesaslers: “Everyone’s Incompetent But Us”

It struck me as I was reading a news report of the dire situation Arizona wineries find themselves in (thanks to wine middlemen) that the wine wholesalers who want to convince legislators to stop all forms of direct shipment and direct sales by wineries are making a very unique argument: "EVERYONE IS INCOMPETENT BUT US WHOLESALERS!" In Arizona the wholesalers are pushing a bill that would forbid Arizona wineries from selling direct to consumers and selling direct to retailers. Arizona…

Feb 16, 2006

Careful What You Ask For

An interesting new twist in the direct shipping battles is emerging in Massachusetts. A direct shipping bill was passed in that state that allowed consumers there to buy wine from in and out-of-state wineries. However, it limited wineries that produced 30,000 gallons or less of wine to taking part in the program. If you owned a winery that made more than that, too bad, you can’t ship direct to consumers. It was, as it always is, a bill that protected…

Feb 15, 2006

Wine Wholesalers Have a Good Cry

It appears the wine & beer wholesalers in Illinois are concerned they are being portrayed as the "Bad Guys" in legislative battle there that could lead to many of the state’s wineries going out of business if the wholesalers have their way. Say it with me…."Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" Jim Rinella, president of Rinella Distributing of Quincy, claims that recent rules allow out of state wineries to ship to Illinois consumers and that there is no guarantee that these wineries would pay the…

Feb 13, 2006

The Most Signficant Development in wine since 1933

The "three tier system" can be a complicated beast invested and stuffed with a myriad of regulations and special interest mandates. However, at it’s most basic the three tier system mandates that producers sell to distributors, distributors sell to retailers and restaurants and the retailer and restaurants sell to the consumer. The three tier system is in fact the most efficient way move large quantities of products across state lines from producers to consumers. However, the fact that such a…

Feb 7, 2006

Good News From Florida

Good News From Florida… Now, let’s wait and see if it happens. Florida is one of the largest wine consuming states in the country. It was also the one of the first states in the country to make shipment of wine direct to consumers a felony offense.