Archive for the ‘Wine Business’ Category
A damned interesting event occurred recently that has nearly slipped under the radar. "Damned interesting" may seem hyperbole to most of you but to those who gravitate toward the historical, political and regulatorial (that's not really a word), this event is pretty interesting. Not long ago, the good people at the Center for Alcohol Policy (a National Beer Wholesaler of America creation) took it upon themselves to see to the re-printing and re-release of what might be the most influential…
Wine, or at least the high end of the wine market, finds itself in a post-recessionary phase. This is the only message one could take from the ShipCompliant/Wines & Vines presentation given yesterday at the ShipCompliant Direct Shipping Seminar and Users Conference For the 12 months ending April 2011, the volume and value of wines shipped from winery to consumer is up 11.5 percent. This is in contrast to the overall American wine retail market that, according to IRA data…
My first serious encounter with the Petite Sirah grape variety and the varietal wine that it is made into came when I was working public and media relations for historic Russian River Valley producer Foppiano Vineyards back in 1990. To this day, that encounter remains among the most interesting of my career. I knew very little about Petite Sirah except that there was very little Petite Sirah produced. At first glance it seemed like an archaic variety of grape, but…
AN OPEN LETTER TO AMERICA'S STATE ALCOHOL REGULATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS Dear Alcohol Regulators and Administrators: Once again, as you have every year since 1934, you are gathering together under the auspices of the National Conference of State Liquor Administrators for the annual conference of America's administrators and regulators of state liquor laws. This year you find yourself in Vegas. My understanding is that there are a number of accomplished poker players in your midst so this venue is appropriate. However,…
I'm a fairly busy guy. However, I'm never too busy to help out the good folks at the different state legislatures. So, allow me to take some time out from this fairly busy schedule of mine to put the New Jersey Legislature on the right course. Seems they have a conundrum on their hands. In the Garden State, local wineries are allowed to sell wine directly to wine stores and not go through a middleman wholesaler. In addition, New Jersey…
