1WineDude Joe Roberts on Natural Wine
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Wines.com is please to announce that Joe Roberts, of 1WineDude.com fame, will be a featured contributor to the video blog on Wines.com. Today he discusses the topic of Natural Wine, a polarizing topic that is controversial in the wine world today. What are your thoughts on natural wine? We'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Reach out to Joe at 1WineDude.com and leave your comments with us below!
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Joe Roberts, 1WineDude, Wine Blog, Wines.com, Wines, Natural Wines
White's Wines: Wine Consumers' Grape Expectations
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Wines.com is proud to host Terroirist blogger David White's new syndicated wine column, White's Wines. This weeks column focuses on the antiquated laws in the United States in regards to shipping wine direct to consumer. Look for White's Wines in your local newspaper. If you don't see it there, email your paper's Editor and CC David-at-Terroirist.com!
Wine Consumers’ Grape Expectations
By David White
Imagine if your state legislature, in a bid to protect mom-and-pop bookstores, barred Amazon.com from shipping into your state. Or if your town council, worried about local dairy farmers, prohibited grocers from selling milk. Or if lawmakers banned the sale of potato chips and candy bars on Sundays in an effort to shrink our waistlines.
Such moves would be infuriating. But wine consumers face such restrictions daily.
A whopping 36 states prohibit consumers from ordering wine from out-of-state retailers. Eleven states forbid residents from ordering wine from out-of-state producers. Seventeen ban the sale of wine at grocery stores. Many prohibit Sunday wine sales.
Like virtually all America’s liquor laws, these prohibitions trace their origins to the temperance movement. Today, these laws harm consumers and serve no purpose beyond enriching special interests. Fortunately, the tide appears to be turning in the fight for wine consumers' rights.
When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, states were given the authority to regulate the “transportation or importation” of liquor within their borders. At the insistence of a motley crew of interest groups, states proceeded to impose all sorts of rules.
A top priority was weakening producers.
Before Prohibition, many bars were owned by brewers or distillers. Temperance advocates blamed these bars for many ills associated with drunkenness, and believed that keeping producers away from direct sales would help keep people sober. Law enforcement, too, pushed to weaken producers, as during prohibition, organized crime controlled much of America’s liquor supply.
Lawmakers answered these calls in one of two ways. They either assumed complete control over the sale and/or distribution of alcohol, or they created a wholesale tier -- essentially, an artificial middleman -- to sit between producers and retailers.
Studies indicate that state wine monopolies – especially at the retail level – result in fewer choices and higher prices. Such monopolies should disappear soon. In November, Washington citizens voted to privatize liquor sales. And in Pennsylvania, calls to privatize the state monopoly are getting louder.
Requiring alcohol to pass through wholesalers also results in fewer choices and higher prices. The wholesaling industry, naturally, profits from this system. So to protect its profits, it’s friendly to politicians -- from 2006 to 2010, wholesalers spent more than $82 million on state and federal campaign contributions and lobbying. This makes sense. Without a regulatory structure that literally forces producers to utilize wholesalers, many producers would cut out the middleman.
Fortunately, consumer support for this system has been waning since the 1990s, when Americans started developing a taste for boutique wines and could find them online. In January, New Jersey became one of the last states to legalize direct-to-consumer wine sales.
Most states continue to prohibit shipments from out-of-state retailers, but this could soon change. In late 2010, the Specialty Wine Retailers Association asked the Supreme Court to chime in on a Texas law blocking out-of-state retailers from shipping into the state. The Court refused to hear the case -- thus cementing the Texas prohibition -- but the SWRA’s effort generated enormous interest and support.
Efforts to legalize supermarket wine sales also are gaining steam. These laws are kept in place thanks to lobbying from existing wine retailers, who like being shielded from competition. In New York, Tennessee, Colorado, and elsewhere, consumers are banding together to fight for the right to pick up wine with dinner.
Bans on Sunday sales are yet another relic of the temperance movement -- they were promoted to keep the Sabbath holy and protect church-going business owners from competition. But they don't make sense. Consumers should be able to purchase wine and beer every day of the week.
The United States is the world’s largest wine-consuming nation. But many of our liquor laws are antiquated, and only supported by the special interests that profit from their continuation. Wine consumers deserve a free market in wine.
David White, a wine writer, is the founder and editor of Terroirist.com. His columns are housed at Wines.com, the fastest growing wine portal on the Internet.
White's Wines
White's Wines, Terroirist.com, Wines.com, David White, Wine Laws, Wine Shipping, Direct to Consumer
Do wine Scores really matter? Part 3 of 3
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The discussion continues with Master Sommeliers Craig Collins and Devon Broglie in part 3 our final installment of our segment on "Do Wine Scores Really Matter?" As more controversy surrounds the world of wine writing and wine critics, we want to know what you think. Do you buy wines based off of scores? Or do you prefer to take recommendations from your local retailer, sommelier, or favorite online wine blogger? Leave your comments below and reach out to us on Twitter @Winescom and share you thoughts on the subject. To see part 1 and part 2 of the discussion between Craig, Devon and Bill click here.
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Want more? Watch all of our WINES.com TV videos HERE!
We love your comments and questions and want your feedback. Interact on Twitter with Master Sommelier Craig Collins @CCollinsMS, Master Sommelier Devon Broglie @DBrogues and Bill Elsey @BillElsey today. We want to know what you think. Are Wine scores starting to fade? Hit us up @Winescom and leave us your comments below. Don't forget to check out our cool Facebook posts, too.
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Wine Scores, Wine Critics, Craig Collins, Devon Broglie, Master Sommelier, Robert Parker
Somm: Becoming a Master Sommelier Trailer
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Here at Wines.com we are strong supporters of continued wine education, the entire Sommelier Community and the Court of Master Sommeliers. Take a look inside what it takes to become a Master Sommelier, one of the most difficult exams in the world, which also has one of the lowest pass rates of any exam today. JBWPRO and Forgotten Man Films documents the journey of four young sommeliers: D'Lynn Proctor, Dustin Wilson, Ian Cauble and Brian McClintic as they undertake the daunting challenge of achieving Master Sommelier Certification, a title held by less than 200 individuals in the world today.
SOMM Documentary Trailer 1 from Forgotten Man Films on Vimeo.
For more information on SOMM, visit JBWPRO and Forgotten Man Films by clicking HERE.
Interested in the Court of Master Sommeliers? Visit their site HERE.
Wines.com your ultimate wine portal.
Want more? Watch all of our WINES.com TV videos HERE!
We love your comments and questions and want your feedback. Interact on Twitter with Forgotten Man Films @JBWPRO, The Guild of Sommeliers @GuildSomm, and of course us here @WinesCom. Keep an eye out for SOMM to be released in the spring! Hit us up and leave your comments below. Don't forget to check out our cool Facebook posts, too.
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SOMM, SOMM documentary, Master Sommelier, JBWPRO, Forgotten Man Films, Wines.com
Do Wine scores really matter? Part 2 of 3
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The discussion continues with Master Sommeliers Craig Collins and Devon Broglie in part 2 of our segment on "Do Wine Scores Really Matter?" As more controversy surrounds the world of wine writing and wine critics, we want to know what you think. Do you buy wines based off of scores? Or do you prefer to take recommendations from your local retailer, sommelier, or favorite online wine blogger? Leave your comments below and reach out to us on Twitter @Winescom and share you thoughts on the subject. To see part 1 of the discussion between Craig, Devon and Bill click here.
Wines.com your ultimate wine portal.
Want more? Watch all of our WINES.com TV videos HERE!
We love your comments and questions and want your feedback. Interact on Twitter with Master Sommelier Craig Collins @CCollinsMS, Master Sommelier Devon Broglie @DBrogues and Bill Elsey @BillElsey today. We want to know what you think. Are Wine scores starting to fade? Hit us up @Winescom and leave us your comments below. Don't forget to check out our cool Facebook posts, too.
Wine Scores, Wine Critics, Craig Collins, Devon Broglie, Master Sommelier, Robert Parker
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