Archive for the ‘Wine Consumers’ Category
I've watched a lot of legislatures debate direct shipping policy and watched many lawmakers give in to special interests over and over. However, I've never seen lawmakers so blatantly be bought off by local special interests at the expense of consumers, state tax revenue and free trade like has recently happened in Maryland. I listened to Senator Joan Carter Conway— who chaired the Maryland committee that gets to hear testimony on alcohol policy—in both a private meeting with stakeholders that…
On more than one occasion, when I've pitched stories to a member of the media concerning direct shipping or wine politics, I've found myself spending the majority of the time with a writer explaining to them what the "three tier system" is. That the writer understand this contraption built of early 20th Century concerns is crucial to any discussion of the politics of wine. What confuses and gets the writer stuck is the notion of mandated relationships between the tiers….
Last week one of America's senior wine writers made the point that experience lends more credibility to opinion where wine writing is concerned. Steve Heimoff, long time West Coast editor of Wine Enthusiast who also writes about wine on his blog, put it this way: "the validity of a person’s opinions about wine is directly related to the amount of time and effort that person has put into the study of wine, which includes reading, traveling, learning from others and…
I don't know what the parents come up with in Dairyland when they put together an auction for their private schools. Maybe a night of dinner and milk among the cows. In Lobsterland perhaps the parents looking to raise funds for their private schools auction huge lobster tails signed by the Fisherman that hauled in the big tail, but I'm really am not sure. But what I do know is that these and other private school fund-raising auctions can't be…
You are a winery in Napa or Sonoma and only open by invitation. It means you don't get just anyone off the street. But you do get your fair share of visitors/buyers at the winery. Your wine is fairly expensive: $40 to $100 per bottle. And direct sales at the winery from appointments are critical to your bottom line. As are mailing list sales that come from those who visited the winery at one point or another. You don't sell…
