Wine Technology Blog @ WineWeb.com

I don't want to get on a rant, but when someone's views are totally opposite of what you consider logical, reasonable and in the best interest of the consumer, it's hard not to. I just received this article in a newsletter from the Speciality Wine Retailers Association (WineWeb is a member of this organization).

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In a recent interview at Wine & Spirits Daily , Craig Wolf, president of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association, revealed a kind of stunning arrogance that can only be chalked up to looking at consumers as a pain in the neck. In commenting on the desire of retailers to do business with consumers in other states Wolf said:

"What the specialty wine retailers are saying is, ‘wait a minute you’re hurting the consumer,’ but that’s not true…. I guarantee you that there is virtually no product that any of these specialty wine retailers’ members sell that can’t be purchased directly from the winery.”

Either Mr. Wolf is advocating that consumers in Illinois purchase their rare, old-vine Shiraz directly from the Australian wineries or he has abandoned all pretense of understanding the nature of retailing in the Internet age or the nature of the wine industry today where small, hard to find products are often found not at the winery but in the most remote of retailer storehouses. But wait, there’s more...

“And I guarantee you secondly that there are substantial retail outlets in Illinois that have these products.”

Well, it’s good to know that Mr. Wolf is guaranteeing the Illinois consumer that Illinois retailers will NEVER run out of that small production Auslese or that cult Cabernet of which only 100 cases were produced.

But let’s be clear about what Mr. Wolf seems to be saying to Illinois consumers: "Can’t find the wine you want in your own state? Too bad. You’ll take what we give you and you'll like it!”

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Here's another quote from the interview: "We’ve worked so hard to show how responsible and caring we are...". OK, enough bashing of the wholesalers for today -- they just want to keep their monopolistic, archaic system in place to the detriment of ... (OK, I'm really done, it's just that I've been in this since 1995 and it's hard not to say more.)

So, if you thought that the Supreme Court decision two years ago fixed everything for the free trade of wine, you would be mistaken. Here's a recent example: the Texas legislature just passed a bill that only allows wine to be shipped from a retailer to a consumer if the retailer resides in the same county. Think about this for a moment... I'm sure your local wine shop has a 1990 Henschke Hill of Grace, so you won't need to order it from one of our online merchants. What about your wine club shipments from K&L?

Get involved in this issue -- sign up for the Specialty Wine Retailers consumer email at http://www.specialtywineretailers.org/consumers.php