Archive for the ‘Wine Legal Battles’ Category
There is a political spectrum within the alcohol industry. However, it’s not much like the ideological extremes of American political culture. The American polity is divided; polarized in a way I can’t recall before. It’s as though the electorate will root for their team, no matter how absurd or radical the deeds, desires or words attributed to the leadership of their tribe. The middle of the American political spectrum is a wasteland—a bowed middle and top-heavy on the ends. While…
Fourteen years ago one thing was clear to everyone concerned after the Supreme Court rendered its decision in Granholm v Heald: States that allowed their own wineries to ship wine direct to consumers but prohibited out-of-state wineries from doing the same had to erase that discriminatory treatment. There was little talk or concern then as to whether or not states needed to address discrimination in retailer DTC shipments. In June 2019 when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Tennessee…
After consumers’ demand for easy access to alcohol products via direct shipping is satisfied, the most important issue facing the alcohol industry is self-distribution—wineries, brewers and distillers possessing the right to self-distribute their products in-state and over state lines directly to retailers and restaurants rather than be forced to use wholesalers. Michigan brewers want to address this issue now, but as always they are opposed by greedy, rent-seeking wholesalers who can’t make a reasonable or rational case for their protected…
When you read or hear a group or person issue forth with a non-sequitur, the first thing you ought to ask is, why are they not addressing the point or the issue. Emma Balter writing for the Wine Spectator has done a really great job of covering the process and implications of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Tennessee Wine v Thomas—the ruling that declared states may not abuse their 21st Amendment powers to discriminate against out-of-state retailers. In her…
In a move representing extraordinary optimism, the state of Michigan yesterday announced it would appeal a Federal District Court decision from last fall that ruled unconstitutional that state’s ban on wine shipments from out-of-state retailers. The case, Lebamoff v Snyder, is being appealed to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. This is the same Federal Appeals Court that ruled Tennessee’s residency requirement unconstitutional based on the holding that the 2005 Granholm Supreme Court decision barring states from passing laws that…
