Wines & Vines Magazine reports that since direct shipping to consumers was instituted in Texas, shipping in-state is up dramatically. Bobby Champion, a pressure-inducing name if I ever saw one, is with the Texas Agricultural Department. He says: "It’s a tremendous boon to the industry and it could double or triple growth within the next two to three years" One would hope that states currently considering destroying their local wine industries by shutting down direct shipping might call on "the…

Boy, it has been  long time since I’ve seen this kind of hooey. Even the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers and their shills haven’t been making the argument of late that there is any evidence that minors are buying wine online in any significant number. Yet here comes Lisa Hutcheson, in a letter to the editor in the Indianapolis Star, trying to sell the idea that "10 percent of underage drinkers buy their alcohol online". Hutcheson went so far as to…

The Illinois legislature held a committee meeting today on the issue of direct shipping. Following the meeting I had a chance to speak with the lobbyist for the wineries, Mr. David Strickland. According to Strickland, it was his view that the overriding message from the committee members was "find a compromise". Apparently both the Wholesalers’ and the Wineries’ bills were approved and passed through the committee to the floor of the House. In communicating with the committee, the wholesalers characterized…

In Michigan the attempt by wine wholesalers to end all direct shipment of wine to consumers was defeated in large part because consumers, wineries and the media were willing to call out the wholesalers’ blatant attempt to game the system and institute a monopoly for themselves on sales of wine in that state. Wholesalers in Illinois are attempting to do the same thing through a cynical attempt to use the public’s concern for the health of children and teens as…

The Illinois Wine & Grape Growers Association are fighting back. House Bill 4444 has been introduced into the Illinois Legislature as a response to the wine Wholesaler’s self serving bill (HB4350). In addition, meetings have been held by the various parties involved that have been characterized in their initial outset as " very unproductive" but later got back on track. The Wineries’ HB4444 was introduced by Rep Mike Bost. The proposed law is not merely a response to the Wholesaler’s…