Archive for the ‘Wine Consumers’ Category

Jul 31, 2019

Alabama’s Studies Wine Shipping…Because It’s So Damned Complicated

Despite the Alabama legislature being directed to form a Study Task Force to examine the wine direct shipping issue, I remain shocked that it actually happened. What’s even more shocking is that after 45 other states have figured out how to implement direct shipment of wine, Alabama needs a study task force to figure it all out. And it appears there are a few folks on the task force who can’t quite figure out how to implement direct shipping while…

Jun 28, 2019

The Real Meaning of the Tennessee Wine Supreme Court Decision

What’s absolutely clear from Wednesday’s Tennessee Wine v. Thomas Supreme Court decision is that the case was clearly originally taken by the Court for one reason and one reason only: To state clearly that the 2005 Granholm v Heald Supreme Court decision with its non-discrimination and anti-protectionism principles that altered the direct shipping landscape applies equally to retailers as it does to wineries. One wonders how long the Court has been waiting for a case to make this point. As…

Jun 25, 2019

Delicious, Easily Accessed, Low-Priced Alcohol—What Consumers (will) Want

What do wine consumers care about? It’s a good question that Wine Intelligence’s CEO Lulie Halstead took a whack at when she gave a presentation at the recent. In the report on Halstead’s presentation, writer Matthew Jenkins reiterated Halstead’s four things consumers care about: PersonalizationExperienceConvenienceSustainability It’s hard to disagree that these are things that some wine consumers care about. However, together they are not the MOST IMPORTANT things consumers care about. I’m sure Halstead knows this. She is talking about…

Jun 11, 2019

In Wine Law…Be Careful What You DO NOT Ask For

The recent opening of Florida for wine shipments from out-of-state wine retailers is a story of “be careful what you DON’T ask for”. In 2005, in the wake of the Granholm v Heald Supreme Court decision, a Florida Federal District Court ruled that the state was barred from enforcing its laws that banned out-of-state shipments of wine. At the time wineries rightfully celebrated. However, there was also in place an assumption that the Court order barring enforcement of the state’s…

May 31, 2019

Meet William Occam—The Millennial Wine Marketing Expert

Before we start imploring wineries and retailers to change the way they do business in order to accommodate a different kind of consumer (Millennials) it might be a good idea to deploy Occam’s razor. William of Occam, a philosopher and friar from the 14th century, implored (and I’m paraphrasing here) that in attempting to explain a phenomenon we should not make more assumptions than the minimum necessary. Which brings us to the question, why do Millennials spend less on wine?…