Archive for the ‘Wine Legal Battles’ Category
I’ve always wondered if there is some sort of super secret initiation ceremony one must go through before becoming a wholesaler at which a small tube is inserted into the frontal lobe and part of the prospective distributor’s brain is sucked out: “The idea that, somehow, distributors are against craft beer is just very inaccurate. We’re not against a 64-ounce container, and we’re not against a tap room at the brewery. Our issue is that you collapse the three-tier system…
THERE IS A WAY. In response to my recent post on Repealing the State Mandated Three Tier System, I’ve received a number of pessimistic comments and emails that essentially go like this: “But Tom, what can really be done. The wholesalers and the three-tier system are entrenched and too powerful.” The State-Mandated Three Tier System and its wholesaler supporters are indeed entrenched and quite powerful. But, there are ways to begin to undermine this system that harms wineries, retailers…
When bribes are described as “the process” and when lawmakers admit they are happily in the pockets of alcohol wholesalers, it’s clear it’s time to change something. And everyone knows it: For the majority of alcohol beverage producers, it has become abundantly clear that single most important impediment to their continued success is the existence of the State-Mandated Three-Tier System (SMTTS) in state after state across the country. The artisan wine, beer and spirit producers know that a repeal of…
I always had a pretty good feeling that the City Council in the town of Sonoma would do the right thing where the fake issue of “too many tasting rooms” around the Town Plaza was concerned. And they have. Monday the Sonoma City Council voted 4-1 to not limit the number of wine tasting rooms on and around the Sonoma Town Plaza. It was a pretty forceful display of common sense. However, the way the issue was raised, discussed, debated…
Remember what happened back in grade school when the bully started telling you how it was going to be and you decided to push back. Immediately the bully would run to the principle in tears, tell a lie or two, then beg for protection. Yes, I’m describing middlemen wine wholesalers who tend to run to daddy-lawmaker whenever they face the slightest bit of competition. They tell their lies about how the three-tier system is actually good for consumers or how…
