Archive for the ‘Wine Legal Battles’ Category
The beer and wine wholesalers supporting H.R. 5034, a bill now in the House of Representatives that, if passed, would pave the way for direct shipping rights to be taken away and give wholesalers free reign to push through any number of discriminatory state laws that favor their business, have been relatively quiet in the news media about their attempt to take control of the alcohol distribution and sales industry via federal legislation. However, careful searches on the Internet do…
I was contacted recently by the owner of one of the most accomplished and successful Direct-to-Consumer wineries; a winery that has been able to secure the vast amount of their annual revenue from direct to consumer marketing and shipping. They asked me a simple question: "Why should I continue to abide by the rules and regulations of the various states that allow licensed direct to consumer shipping?" It was a legitimate question. The fact is, as long as there are…
Over the course of the past month or so I've been involved in helping generate opposition to H.R 5034, a bill promoted by alcohol wholesalers that paves the way for states to pass discriminatory legislation that would harm wineries, retailers and consumer access to wine. My involvement has been on behalf of the Specialty Wine Retailers Association, an organization of wine retailers, wine clubs and auction houses across the country that work to open more states for retailer to consumer…
The saying goes, "You dance with the one that brung ya." Applied to politics, this generally means an elected official supports the causes of those that supported him. These days, "support" means campaign contributions. But I'm not convinced that the specter of an elected official doing the bidding of his contributors is the most insidious thing about the the ethical moshpit that is the current system of campaign finance, nor do I think campaign contributions equate to support for the…
If putting the words "Sonoma County" on a wine label would help their wine sell faster or for higher prices, don't you think wineries would have already done so? I do. In fact, I know they would. But clearly many wineries that produce wines from grapes grown in the Russian River Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma Valley, Alexander Valley, Sonoma Coast and elsewhere inside Sonoma County don't feel a need to place these fairly meaningless words on their labels. Yet…
