Archive for the ‘Three Tier System’ Category

Aug 18, 2020

Distillers…It’s Time To Go Big…It’s Time for Systemic Change

In one way or another, nearly every sector of the alcohol biz has requested some level of government aid in their effort to survive the economic impact of the COVID 19 pandemic. In nearly every instance the specific aid request seems to shoot too low, particularly given the opportunity that this moment presents. A good example is the current effort by craft distillers and their various national and state trade associations to convince Congress to make permanent the federal excise…

Aug 4, 2020

The Top Ten Important Wine Questions

There are a variety of interesting and even significant questions staring the wine industry in the face right this minutes. They are the kind of questions that have answers that will significantly impact the wine industry and they are the kind of questions I like to ponder and often write about. These are ten of those questions and they are questions I don’t have answers to and in some cases, don’t even know how to evaluate. Do you? ONE Fifteen…

Aug 3, 2020

Imagine if Selling Shoes Was as Absurd as Selling Wine

I recently had the opportunity to provide one half of dueling opinion pieces in the Columbus Dispatch. The issue was, “Should Ohio Restrict Online Sales of Spirits and Wine”. The reason for the dueling op-eds was as a response to the Ohio Attorney General’s claim that out-of-state wine retailers illegally shipped into the state and his filing for an injunction against those retailers in Federal Court. My Op-Ed is here. The gentlemen providing all the reasons why Ohio consumers should…

Jul 19, 2020

Rocket Science and the Restaurant Wine Sales Crisis

While presenting at the Sonoma State University Wine Business Institute Research Summit on July 15 , Stephen Rannekleiv of Rabo Agribusiness delivered the bad news: There should be no expectation that the white table cloth restaurant industry will recover fully recover even by the end of 2022 — two and a half years from now. This doesn’t bode well for fine wine producers and begs them to determine what they can do to overcome what will be a significant deficit in…

Jul 13, 2020

Wine Consumers Get The Boot Again….Shocking!

You’ll never believe this, but it turns out that folks in Ohio actively seek out online wine retailers in order to buy wine. I know….Who would have thunk it? But it turns out Ohio’s Attorney General Dave Yost doesn’t like this. In fact, given the demands of the current pandemic, riots, rising crime rates, and more, Attorney General Yost thinks his valuable time is filing a federal suit against a handful of out-of-state retailers who have responded to Ohioans who…