Indeed everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon to sell wine. One of the biggest barriers to entry however seems to be the archaic statutes and regulatory requirements on the books of most every state. One would think that the fairly recent US Supreme Court rulings would have resolved this, which it did to an extent, but mostly for the benefit of wineries - not retailers.

Costco’s strategy might be to slow down the spending on legal fees to defend their right to ship. From what I can see, they have been big proponents of trying to keep the Prohibition fringe from reemerging in this country and have devoted substantial resources to the fight.
We are not going to make progress in commerce until we can change laws at a state level, not the least of which is the traditional three tier system of distribution: winery, distributor and retailer. Distributors have a lot of muscle in terms of political capital (read: contributions to politicians); thus the influence to protect their turf, even to the detriment of consumers.

Of course more retailers mean more competition for my dollar, which translates into more choices and better prices for me. The caveat is however, if I can get it shipped to my state or not. The downside of having more retailers is that there is more potential for duplicity and shabby business practices, especially when it comes to the issue of a wine’s provenance.

I have come to trust certain retailers and auction houses over the years. These companies stand behind their wines as much as reasonably can be expected. One company even spent several days with me to track down the origin of a wine I purchased but suspected was counterfeit; it was not. So Amazon may get in the game but I doubt seriously if they care about wine like a fine wine merchant does. I would much rather pay a few dollars more to keep smaller wine merchants in business and know that my purchases are the quality I expect and am paying for.

As with most purchases, and perhaps more-so with internet purchases: buyer beware!

David Boyer

We are also proud of our namesake and the vision he had to put the winery together. The winery will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary next year, and Fess and his children, Eli and Ashley (along with Ashley’s husband, Tim Snider, our President), will be around often to enjoy the fruits of their labor. The next generation have helped take the winery to a new level quality-wise.

Thanks again!

Cheers!

As much as I appreciate CA wines, let’s not delude ourselves with the results of this monumental event. A good vintage 1st Growth Bordeaux will blow away anything in its genre I can think of. It is the epicenter of great wine, which is why California and other great wine regions work so hard to emulate it.

The movie was typical Hollywood fluff, trying to pick up the Sideways demo segment. Not only were there gross inaccuracies, but it tried to be too many things to too many people, and ended up not doing any of it well. Hollywood would probably be offended if winemakers tried to make a feature film. Conversely, filmmakers generally should stay out of the wine world.

Always provocative and insightful topics found here! I would not say with certainty that wine is recession proof but I would say that drinking pretty much is. The beverage of choice may change with supply and demand as you stated, along with changes in disposable income. But really why would, or why should, the wine industry be exempt from the credit crisis?

Maybe this recession can be productive in a couple of ways: weeding out the weaker players would not be a bad thing necessarily in terms of just ridding ourselves of some of the clutter. Truly, there is an enormous overgrowth of really poor quality wine out there and $4 to $10 wines are not contributing to the quality of wine in any conceivable way. I don’t mean to sound elitist but I want to say that there probably is not a whole lot of brand loyalty (or even loyalty to wine as a beverage) in this price range. If a $4 dollar bottle suddenly goes up to $6 a bottle, and someone can buy a twelve-pack of beer for $6 or $8 dollars, there goes your customer.

Secondly, perhaps a correction is due in the wine market and new release prices can come back down to earth again. $800+ for a 2005 Bordeaux that I should wait 15 years to enjoy? I can (and do) buy mature Bordeaux that can be enjoyed now for the same price or less. A $200 California Cab that less that five years ago was $50? A $180 dollar Malbec from Argentina? Do we really think this is sustainable? I don’t, and the middle of my wall is $50 to $100.

Personally, I’m not sorry to see markets correct because they have been driven by corporate and shareholder greed, and CEOs wearing 90 day glasses, for far too long. I am sorry however to see innocent hardworking men and women that had no part in the meltdown get hurt. As for the wine industry, I just don’t see a downside.

and another one here
http://www.decanter.com/news/271167.html?aff=rss

I’m living in China and concerned about what’s going to happen here, especially as I think any downturn will have an even bigger impact on wine, given that it is considered a luxury good, and isn’t really a part of daily life here. It looks like it would be one of the first items to go.

Cheers, Jim