Archive for the ‘Wine Legal Battles’ Category
Another round of childish whining by beer wholesalers appears to be underway. This time in Florida. The issue that brings the beer wholesalers to tears? The protectionist system of alcohol distribution from which they benefit and that allows them to coast along without answering to anyone or any competition is being challenged. Boo Hoo. The primary reason for this new round of childish whining by beer wholesalers is a result of MillerCoors challenging Florida’s “Franchise Law”. You know what a…
If you ever wanted a precise explanation as to why alcohol wholesalers and some retailers so vociferously opposed winery-to-consumer shipping throughout the 90s, 00’s and up until today, all you have to do is take a cursory look at ShipCompliant and Wines & Vines’ new winery-to-consumer shipping report. According to these sources, winery to consumer shipping now annually account for $1.35 billion in sales. But what’s remarkable is that those sales represent 8.6% of the total American wine retail marketplace…
Is there any compelling reason a winery ought to be required by law to use any amount or percentage of grapes from within the state where it resides? I can’t think of one. Kansas winemakers are finishing up there 2012 harvest about now and doing so under a new rule concerning the origin of grapes they use to produce wine. Under Kansas law that went into effect this year, 30% of a winery’s annual production must be based on grapes…
Every now and then an important news gathering outlet decides to run a series of stories on alcohol politics. The series is usually focused on a single state. And the series is usually driven by a single reporter who in some way or another has come to appreciate that alcohol politics usually comes down to the same thing that most other kinds of politics comes down to: unjustified amounts of influence invested in a single entity. Harry Esteve of the…
Usually, when one player in the alcohol marketplace —the distributors, producers, retailers, etc.—want something from politicians, when they want something changed, they walked into a legislator’s office, close the door and start talking. Then they walk down the hall and do it again. And again. They lobby. They might throw some money at the problem. But it all pretty much happens behind closed doors. What you rarely see in alcohol politics is a player make a public threat that if…
