Archive for the ‘Wine Legal Battles’ Category
No single wine related organization in America contributes more money to political campaigns than the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association. A national association representing 90% of America’s wine wholesalers, WSWA is a strong and powerful proponent not just for its members across the United States but for the entrenched three-tier system. WSWA has been instrumental in crafting and delivering the message that minors can and are put in danger by direct shipping to consumers. WSWA was instrumental in getting passed…
Over the past few months FERMENTATION has tried to cover a variety of political battes involving wine and wine distribution and sales in particular. We’ve been candid in our position that money usually sways the outcome of these battles. That is to say, campaign contributions tend to deliver not only access to office holders, but too often results in success in state houses across the country and in Washington. With the 2006 campaign cycle roaring into high gear, we thought…
Yea…Michigan State officials are throwing a real hissy fit. They are apparently upset with the costs they are obligated to pay the attorneys that beat them at the Supreme Court last year in the Granholm v. Heald wine decision. Their tantrum boils down to this: They don’t like what it cost their opponents to beat them. Among their claims is that it was unnecessary to bring in Kathleen Sullivan, Dean of Stanford law School, to write the "merits brief" as…
I’ve recently come across one of the most bizarre suggestions yet as relates to the issue of shipping wine directly to consumers. In Florida, the state Senate is looking to formalize their decision to allow direct shipping of wine to its residents. As expected wine wholesalers and their friends in the Senate are attempting to put restrictions on the legislation that amount to a "Wholesaler Protection Act." The current idea is to limit the wineries that can ship to residents…
The cork manufacturers of the world are pretty smart, visionary folk. Early on, when the first alternative closures for wine hit the market in response to too many wines gone bad due to tainted corks, cork manufacturers when on a promotional crusade to keep corks relevant. I learned today of what must be their greatest coup yet in their battled to maintain their closure market dominance: They’ve simply found a way to keep the market all to themselves. A press…
