Wine Without Borders

Consumer Choice in Wine: “Bad Public Policy”

November 20, 2007 – 9:56 am

“The misconception is that it was ever about money for wholesalers. It never was. The reason [we] don’t like [direct shipping] is that it’s a bad public policy.”
Craig Wolf, Wine & Spirit Wholesalers Association.

Of course it’s not about money. It is just a coincidence that every pro-consumer wine shipping policy proposed is opposed by American wine wholesalers and every pro-consumer wine shipping policy proposed would also take money out of the pockets of the wine wholesalers because they would allow sales of wine to go around the state-supported wine wholesaler monopoly.

The above quote comes from a very good story about retailer-to-consumer shipping that appeared yesterday at the Wine Spectator.com website. Written by Eric Arnold, the article explains what is at stake for consumers, retailers and wholesalers in the battle to allow consumers to access the wines they want, rather than only the wines the wholesalers believe consumers should be allowed to drink.

The article brings the reader up to date on the various lawsuits in place around the country that address the protectionist, unconstitutional laws that wholesalers appear willing to spend as much as is need to keep in place.

With regard to the three-tier system that wine wholesalers believe is built for their protection, Wolf has this to say:

“When the three-tier system is unquestionably legitimate, when it comes to wholesalers and retailers, you can treat them [wineries and retailers] differently.”

Now while Specialty Wine Retailers Associations disputes this view of the 3-tier system, we also have to ask, why would you want to treat retailers different than wineries when it comes to wine shipping? Is there a fundamental difference for the consumer whether they receive a box of wine from a winery or a retailer? Of course not. Is there a fundamental difference in the nature of the transaction? No. Both are simple retail transactions. And yet, wine wholesalers have literally spent millions of dollars involving themselves in lawsuits specifically to prevent consumers from being able to access the wines they want. Why? Because wine wholesalers are really, really, really concerned with good public policy?

It’s pretty clear that America’s wine wholesalers will fight to the bitter end to prevent consumers from being able to buy wine that doesn’t first go through the wholesaler’s hands. They’ll spend millions of dollars to prevent this from happening where ever they have to. CONSUMERS MUST BE AWARE OF THESE EFFORTS. CONSUMERS MUST CONTACT THEIR REPRESENTATIVES. CONSUMERS MUST WRITE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. CONSUMERS MUST STAY INFORMED.

This blog and the SWRA website is one way to stay informed. Even better, sign up for the Specialty Wine Retailers Newsletter, “The Bottom Line”. It’s free and comes straight to your email box. Click Here to Subscribe.

And…if you want to truly help the effort to that will allow you to access the wines you want, donate to Specialty Wine Retailers HERE. You can easily donate as little as $5 to $1000 to help the cause using your credit card or paypal account.