Dubbed the Wholesaler Bailout bill, House Resolution 5034 was introduced into Congress. If passed, this bill would essentially end the direct shipment of wine to consumers and put many of this country's 6,000 wineries out of business. If you ever needed an excuse to write your Representative, this is it. Don't let this bill pass -- oppose it, and tell your friends.
Tom Wark has done a great analysis of the bill -- read it here.
In case you missed it, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy yesterday conducted a hearing entitled "Legal Issues Concerning State Alcohol Regulation". Here's the link that includes the video and the statements from each witness. Lot's of buzz about this from both sides of the argument. Essentially the beer wholesaler's association wants Congress to enact legislation to prohibit direct shipping of any type of alcohol.
Here's a link to Wine Industry Insight's article listing 11 of the 14 members of the subcommittee that have accepted contributions from the beer wholesaler's association. Here's a link to the Specialty Wine Retailers Association statement and Tom Wark's blog post. Please read this information to better understand what's going on here, then get involved to raise awareness of this issue.
Many wineries are focusing on the environmental impact of producing their wines, and while that's good, it's only part of the overall green effort. Wines & Vines published an article on a study prepared by a student in Nova Scotia that shows that a consumer going to the wine shop to buy a wine can add half to the overall environmental impact of that product. This raises a lot of questions in my mind, like what's the impact of making a special trip to buy one bottle versus a case, versus stopping by the wine shop on your way home from work, versus having wine shipped directly to you. It would be great to see an eco-conscious winery show the environmental savings (if there is any) from having their wine shipped directly to the consumer. Could "Go green, have your wine shipped" be a slogan in the near future?
OK, I admit this may be a bit of a stretch, but since this blog is about technology and wine, here goes.
News was released today that scientists have discovered more about the origins and functions of the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient mechanical "computer" that dates to the 1st century B.C. Since its discovery by divers around 1900, much has been speculated about this advanced technology. Now, in addition to tracking astronomical events in the solar system, the researchers found that one of the dials was dedicated to tracking the 4 year cycle of the ancient Olympiad games. The month names on the 19 year calendar have now been determined to be Corinithian, which provides evidence as to its origin. Interesting stuff -- more details at the research project website.
Since wine has been a part of Greek culture for over 4,000 years, the chances are good that the ship carrying the Antikythera Mechanism was also carrying wine. While the sailors may have relied on the Mechanism for navigation, they very likely didn't require a "computer" to sell their wine in other locations. My how times have changed. Now, in our "advanced technology culture" we don't require a computer to travel from one state to another, but we need one to figure out how and where we can get wine from a winery to a person in another state, given the ever-changing laws restricting the free trade of wine.
So the question of the day: Has civilization progressed in this area in the past 2,000 years?
The way that sales tax is calculated to customers in Washington state will change on July 1. I just read a blog post at ShipCompliant that called it a streamlined style. While the tax reporting may be streamlined, the rate calculation is anything but. It's a destination-based tax, where the tax rate is based on the location of the customer. OK so far, as several states do that. The complexity comes into play as the tax rates are not based on county or city boundaries, but must be determined based on ZIP Code plus 4. All e-commerce systems and other order processing systems must be revised to either require entry of ZIP+4 for Washington customers or determine the ZIP+4 based on the customer's address. We've prepared for this change by enhancing our sales tax calculation routines and loading over 30,000 records that correspond ZIP+4 ranges to sales tax location codes.
We noticed that another wine e-commerce service launched a few days back, and maybe because it's getting close to Halloween, their take on sales tax spooked us a bit. They state that :...we ask which states you must charge sales tax. This is usually only the state(s) in which your winery holds a physical presence."
Here's the WineWeb's take on sales tax and how we've built it into our e-commerce service.
Here's how it works for a winery using the WineWeb's e-commerce service:
We maintain the sales tax rates, ZIP Codes and dry area so you don't need to spend time and effort to understand them. We also use a compliance company to help ensure that our information is accurate and up-to-date. Nothing spooky about that.
Not to beat up on the liquor wholesalers (as I've said before, they have their place in the market), but here's a quote from the Texas Attorney General James Todd that was just published in the Specialty Wine Retailers Association newsletter: "In the Dallas Region during the first Five Months of FY 2007, the TABC enforcement Division brought almost 1,200 criminal actions against permit holders for violations related to minors, of which none involved Internet sales or direct shipment and few involved wine."
As the wholesaler lobby has frequently used the argument that direct shipping provides wine to minors, maybe we'll now hear less of that. Maybe they could now argue for laws requiring proof-of-age and an adult signature on all alcohol sales at retail stores. Yeah, right.
The latest issue of Practical Winery & Vineyard (July/August) contains an article written by yours truly. It's entitled "Hosted services model for winery websites" and is based on a recent white paper I wrote. We've posted a reprint online, or if you're planning to attend the Wine Industry Technology Symposium on Tuesday, Practical Winery will be handing out reprints at their booth.
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).
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!”
Our online age verification feature has been up and running for a few weeks. We integrate with the age verification service from IDology, as they are certified in Michigan, the first state to require age verification. To get setup for this service, you'll need an account with IDology, then you provide us with the account information and a list of the states where you wish to check age. There are no WineWeb fees for this service, above those charged by IDology.
