Archive for the ‘Three Tier System’ Category
In a way, it’s shocking that a lawsuit and claims like this haven’t been filed before, given just Southern/Glazer’s target size. On the other hand, the claims of “unfair, unlawful, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices”, meticulously laid out in this class action suit against Southern/Glazers are shocking. Hell, if a quarter of them are borne out, it would be a shocking example of hubris, fraud, and corruption by the largest and most powerful entity in the American wine and spirits…
Monarch Beverage Company, one of Indiana’s largest wine and beer distributors, lost its appeal in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court said the state could bar beer and wine distributors from also distributing spirits. Boo-Fucking-Hoo!!! Monarch thought it unfair and unconstitutional that the state barred it from selling something in the way it thought it should be able to sell it. The irony. I wonder what Indiana’s wineries are thinking upon hearing about this decision, particularly when they…
Wine writers and wine bloggers who aspire to both understand and report on the business of wine can’t ignore the politics of wine. Few other businesses are so significantly defined by and impacted by regulations, lobbying and politics. Will consumers have legal access to the products they want? That depends on politics. Will wineries be able to make use of new technologies to distribute their wines more widely? That depends on politics. Will independent and specialty wine retailers have the…
There is a simple way of determining in the wine industry and any other industry or situations, who your opponents are: Line up potential opponents and ask them what they oppose. It’s direct, simple and lacks provocation. Recently, the only national association of wine and spirit wholesalers provided a list of those things they oppose, making it a simple chore to determine if wine and spirit wholesalers are your opponents/enemy. At the recently concluded Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of…
The American system of alcohol regulations is not merely broken, it has become a parody of the idea of control. What once was supposed to be a post-Prohibition system of regulations to assure the country did not fall back into a free-for-all alcohol market has morphed over the years into a chaotic collection of regulations and laws based on the what the highest bidder wants, on the principle of rent-seeking by the most powerful and politically connected entities in the…
