Archive for the ‘Wine Legal Battles’ Category
With the recent retirement of Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, all eyes turn to President Trump, Kennedy’s soon-to-be-appointed replacement and the battle that will follow. But it should not be forgotten as that battle begins that it was Justice Kennedy who authored the 2005 Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court decision that ushered in a sea change in the direct shipment of wine. Kennedy wrote the opinion for the 5-4 majority in which the Court held, “that the laws in…
Every state in America has some sort of Commission, Agency, Department or Board that oversees the state’s alcohol production, distribution and sales. What’s notable about this is that alcohol is the most highly regulated industry in America. As a result, the commissioners, agents, department heads and board members almost never garner an “attaboy” from either those they regulate or those that watch them regulate. The primary problem these regulators face is they are tasked with overseeing what is in most…
A great amount of words have been composed trying to explain why the wine industry has a seeming aversion to implementing new digital technologies. Notables of great talent and energy have worked and are working to cajole the wine trade into embracing the digital tools available for better meeting consumer wine demand as well as matching consumer desires to products. Yet, the single greatest deterrent to the wine industry becoming a full-fledged adopter of new economy tools isn’t a luddite’s aversion…
Given the recent events in New Hampshire in which the Liquor Commission has begun to block wine shipments to the state’s consumers, it is becoming abundantly clear that the Liquor Commission there can’t be trusted to fairly administer its regulatory responsibilities concerning the direct shipment of wine. Furthermore, it’s clear now that the responsibility for overseeing the direct shipment of wine must be taken out of the hands of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. When a state entity is responsible…
While I can’t speak for other industries, I can say that when controversy reigns over an issue within the wine industry, it is rare that partisans on either side of the issue make a comprehensive case for their position. You can’t say that anymore about the battle over Napa Valley’s Measure C, an initiative on the June ballot that pits Nimbys, opportunists, and fact-deficient moralists on one side against rational, liberty-loving, pro-agriculture partisans on the other in a battle to…
