Archive for the ‘Wine Business’ Category
On September 3rd an important court ruling emerged out of a Federal Court in Illinois in the Case of Anheuser Busch v. Schnorf (Download Illinois ruling). The ruling reiterated a holding implied in the Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court case and made explicit in the Costco v. Hoen case: States may not bar out-of-state alcohol producers from selling directly to retailers and restaurants if the same states allows its resident producers to sell to in-state retailers and restaurants. The case…
Anyone familiar with "Franchise Laws" within the alcohol beverage industry will not be surprised to learn that in a working paper prepared by an attorney and economist for the Federal Trade Commission, such laws were determined to hurt consumers. Or, to put it as the authors of the Working Paper put it, such Franchise Protection Laws: “are associated with harming consumers in the form of higher prices and reduced out-put” Let me translate: protectionist legislation sought and obtained by wine…
The upcoming November 2nd election is among the most important for the American wine industry in a very long time. Two issues should be watched closely by the wine, beer and spirits industry: 1) the outcome of the race for control of the House of Representatives and 2) the outcome of Initiative 1100 in Washington State. CONTROL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES & H.R. 5034Despite the 137 Co-sponsors of the Wholesaler Protection Bill known as H.R. 5034, the beer and…
I was disappointed, though not surprised, to see that today a conjunctive labeling law dictating that "Sonoma County" be placed on every label on wines produced from grapes grown in Sonoma County was unanimously passed by the California Legislature . Pushed as an effort to promote "Sonoma County" wines and a consumer education effort, the new law instead forces vintners to needlessly sully their package and undermines their own marketing efforts. Yet, the law does nothing to educate consumers. Passed…
The Great Recession continues. Like most folks who have an inkling about the linkage between economic growth, national greatness, prosperity and individual happiness, I am concerned that this recession could linger and create a new sense of "Normal" in which economic growth is slight to anemic. The clearest sign that we would be pulling out of recession and seeing America's economy start to rev up again would be job growth and lower unemployment, currently at around 9%-10%—officially. A sucker for…
