Archive for the ‘Wine News’ Category
By all accounts the upper end of the wine industry in the United States ($25+ per bottle) is in full recovery from the retraction that occurred in 2008-2010. -Retailers in metropolitan areas report much more robust sales-Auction houses are seeing significantly increased activity-High End Restaurants are seeing a return to conspicuous wine purchases-Napa Valley has seen a recovery in its hospitality sector Today, the New York Times reports that luxury goods are flying off the shelves across the country even…
The UK's Daily Telegraph reports on a study that delivers the astounding conclusion that folks often drink to relieve stress. This revelation might be best filed in the "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" category. Conducted by "DrinkAware", a UK-based anti-alcohol organization, the study found: "73% of the women and 57% of the men who took part citing stress as their number one excuse…On being given a list of options, pouring a glass of wine (61%) came only behind relaxing…
It's notable that as alcohol wholesalers and their advocates defend the three tier system and attempts to prevent any changes or reforms to that system, we see less and less reference to the system's ability to prevent minors from obtaining alcohol. When the direct shipping debate took off in the early 1990s and up until about 3 years ago. we heard wholesalers and their advocates regularly claim that allowing any changes to the three tier system would result in minors…
The sticks by which we measure success and utility vary widely, don't you think? Consider wine. A wine might be considered successful or useful on a scale of 1-100 or with five stars or with a fortunately combination of adjective. You can measure a wine's success by looking at its sales or its regularly increasing price or by the number of stores or restaurants in which it is found. With nearly everything produced and nearly everyone who tries, some stick…
When a relatively small group of businesses control an entire industry, something is broken. Yesterday the Specialty Wine Retailers Association (for whom I act as Executive Director) released a study entitled, "Toward Liquor Domination". The study details the more than $82 million alcohol wholesalers have spent on campaign contributions and federal lobbying over the past three election cycles. This amount dwarfs all of the state and federal campaign contributions and federal lobbying by wine stores, beer producers, spirit producers and…
