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Facetime With WinePressNW

Andy Perdue, longtime editor of Wine Press Northwest and an authority on the wines and wine industry in Oregon and Washington, was kind enough to interview me at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, Washington last week.

It was a fun interview to do and gave me the chance to think about the utility of the Wine Bloggers Conference and bloggers and my own mug.

How To Fix The Anti-Consumer H.R. 5034 Wine Bill

At a recent meeting of the National Conference of State Liquor Administrators (NCSLA) a lively debate over H.R. 5034, the bill that would allow states to pass any discriminatory or protectionist laws and regulations regarding alcohol sales and distribution without concern of court challenges. At that debate, wholesaler supporters complained that opponents of the bill have done nothing to suggest changes to the bill that would make it more passable:

"The people who oppose this legislation may have ideas to make it better, so let's hear them.....We have not seen cooperative efforts....It's incumbent upon us to try to fix [the litigation issue]."

As the Wine Institute's Steve Gross pointed out, it's not the job of opponents of the bill to make it better and passable. And he's right.

However, that's not to say there are not any ways to improve H.R. 5034 and get it closer to being a bill that may be more acceptable to producers and retailers. The Bill's supporters have consistently pushed back saying that H.R. 5034 is not meant to overturn the holdings of the Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court decision that dictated states are still required to write non-discriminatory legislation where interstate commerce is concerned. In fact, at the recent NCSLA conference, Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of America president Craig Wolf said H.R. 5034 is:

"designed to incorporate and enshrine Granholm.....but when it comes to cases that go beyond Granholm....we want to draw a line."

If this is really the case and if H.R. 5034 is designed to "enshrine" Granholm, let me suggest at least one change to the bill. Perhaps a passage ought to be added that states:

"NOT WITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS BILL OR ANY OTHER ACT OF CONGRESS, NO STATE SHALL ENACT LAWS ALLOWING IN-STATE WINERIES AND/OR RETAILERS TO SHIP WINE DIRECTLY TO ITS CITIZENS WITHOUT PROVIDING OUT-OF-STATE PRODUCERS AND RETAILERS WITH THE SAME RIGHT ON THE SAME TERMS. NOR SHALL THE STATES ALLOW ITS IN-STATE PRODUCERS  TO SELL DIRECTLY TO IN-STATE RETAILERS AND RESTAURANTS WITHOUT PROVIDING THE SAME RIGHT TO OUT-OF-STATE PRODUCERS ON THE SAME TERMS.

While this amendment would not satisfy all those who oppose H.R. 5034, it would go quite some distance toward enshrining the holdings of the Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court decision (as the wholesalers say it is meant to), it would recognize the important and critical differences that exist in today wine marketplace and economy versus the economic paradigm that existed in the alcohol beverage industry when the three tier system was designed in the 1930s, and it would allow states to continue to prohibit all direct shipment of wine if its citizens really believe such shipments were dangerous.

Still, this simple amendment would not fix the bill. H.R. 5034 allows states to pass any legislation not withstanding any "act of Congress" without any fear that it could be overturned in court. Numerous interests have indicated that this kind of nearly unprecedented power would lead to severe confusion in terms of labeling regulations, tax policy and import provisions, to name a few, since states would no longer be required to abide by alcohol laws created at the federal level.

Still, if the wholesalers who support H.R. 5034 and who claim that it is meant to "enshrine" Granholm, they really ought to agree to the above amendment to the bill.

Questions and Change Brought On By Wine Blogging

Occasionally comments on this blog come in the form questions, rather than statements. However, most often those questions are along the lines of "Who the hell do you think you are." Rhetorical at best.

However, very occasionally I get real honest to goodness questions that deserve a real responses.

Thomas Pellechia, a long time wine professional, excellent wine writer, blogger, and all around semi-curmudgeon, recently asked me a question in connection to a post about wine writers v. wine bloggers. Thomas asked:

How exactly are wine bloggers "in it together and making a change to something that has existed for decades." What's the change? Tasting notes and opinions (especially the baseless ones) read the same to me in print as they do on-line. I really want to know what you believe the "change" is: more voices? more smarts? more and better information? Fill in the blanks for me, please. You are too general with your analysis.

Certainly one of the changes, as Thomas hints at, is that bloggers have brought far more baseless tasting notes and reviews into the public wine sphere. That's hard to argue with. Of course they've also brought a lot more superb tasting notes and reviews. 

But consider this other change: Bloggers have created more "unique bodies of readers". This is another way of saying there are more voices, but it also means that there are more audiences for members of the trade to pay attention to. It's not so difficult for a blogger to create a national discussion among hard core wine lovers and the wine trade that may never have emerged had there not been a blogosphere. This is important because it remains a fact that the trade and the top wine buyers frame the way wine is discussed.

Also, wine publicists like myself ignore these new voices and their audiences at their own peril.

It is also a fact that wine bloggers are playing an important role in promoting social media as an outlet for the average consumer to take wine into their own hands. They tend to be chronic tweeters and Facebookers and have for years now been encouraging a democratization of opinion.

And it's important to consider how the wine blogging world is playing a role in the ongoing reconsideration of the value of content in the wine writing world. What is a professional writer's product worth to a publisher when consumers of wine information can find huge swaths of wine information on the net for free? Thomas Pellechia likely knows, as do other long time wine writers, that it is becoming more difficult to be paid for their work as much as they did just ten years. Many believe the reduction in the payment that comes to professional wine writers has to do with the emergence of free media (read: Bloggers). Interestingly, all I hear is that subscriptions are up at the well established wine magazines. Yet, in many cases, payment is down.

But perhaps most important is that bloggers have brought political commentary to the world of wine writing. It is extraordinarily rare for the major wine publications and wine journalists at newspapers and magazines to take hard and fast positions on the political issues within the wine industry. And why should they? Their mission has long been to bring commentary on wine, winemaking and wine regions to the world of wine lovers and the wine trade along with reviews. They write for all elements of the industry and the consuming community and these publications neither achieve their mission nor deliver the objective product they should deliver when they take a stand on controversial political issues.

Not so for wine bloggers. Most bloggers launched their publishing career with the simple goal of adding to the discussion without restraint. It has been bloggers that have been primarily concerned with taking positions on issues of direct shipping, the three tier system, self distribution, blue laws, and other issues. I believe that the politics of wine, of which there are a great deal, have been best explored over the past 5  years primarily because of bloggers.

I think these changes just scratch the surface.

It's entirely legitimate to make the case that the changes that have been brought on by bloggers aren't so good. I'll listen to those arguments. But it's hard to argue that bloggers have not brought on change, and important changes at that.

10 Things I've Learned So Far at the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference

10 Things I've learned So Far at the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference

1. The wine bloggers conference confirms what many bloggers already knew: There is a strong sense of community among bloggers.

2. The good folks at the Secret Sherry Society has convinced me that Fino Sherry is an interesting substitute for the vermouth in a Manhattan and I'll be investigating this idea fully.

3. Downtown Walla Walla is absolutely charming.

4. The European Bloggers Conference will next be in Vienna....VIENNA!! I know this because I tasted through a slew of great Austrian Rieslings and Gruners being poured by Ryan and Gabriella of Catavino, who are organizing the conference. Vienna!! I think they need an American blogger to bring over who can speak to the issue of being both a publicist and a blogger. I'll look around for someone like that.

5. Harry Waugh, the great wine writer and mentor to Wine Blogger Conference Keynote Speaker Steve Heimoff, sired twins in his eighties. The power of wine continues to astound me.

6. The wine blog-reading world and wine blog award judges have come to appreciate the insightful work of Jeff Lefevere at Good Grape as much as I have and bestowed upon him two 2010 American Wine Blog Awards: Best Graphics and Best Business Wine Blog.

7. Passing the Wine Blog Awards to the OpenWine Consortium and Wine Blogger Conference was a good idea. They are clearly in good hands.

8. There are people roaming the wine blogger conference looking to hire the right wine blogger to work for them. The industry is looking at the blogging community as a recruiting ground.

9. My talks with many wine bloggers tell me that many are deterred from larger readership by suspecting their views, ideas and thoughts are unworthy of posting. It's a mistake.

10.Walla Wallans know how to open their doors to wine bloggers

Wine Writers vs Wine Writers

Beginning today the third annual Wine Bloggers Conference begins here in Walla Walla, Washington. I'm 3 for 3.

I date the advent of wine blogging as an active pursuit to 2005 when more than a few got their start. It only took three years for bloggers to determine they needed a place to gather once a year and confer. What strikes me is that in the nearly 100 years prior to the first wine bloggers conference, there was never a "wine writers conference." (Some will tell you that the Professional Wine Writer Symposium in Napa Valley, begun a few years ago is such a conference, but at $1500 +/- it's not too inviting) I think if we can explain why there has never been a real wine writers conference, while a wine bloggers conference got off the ground so quickly, we might have a pretty good answer to the question, "What's the difference between a wine blogger and a wine writer?"

Let me say out of the gate that I believe all wine bloggers are wine writers, but all wine writers are not wine bloggers.

I don't think there has ever been a sense among traditional wine writers that they were doing anything new. And they weren't. Wine writing has been happening for centuries. Bloggers, however, do have a sense that they are doing something new (maybe even changing things) and this has led them to band together...or at least to be aware of each other. Knowing you are doing something new and being aware of others doing the same thing has instilled a sense of camaraderie among the wine blogging community.

The path from camaraderie to conference isn't a long one.

I think it's also true that once you have a contingent of folks who believe they are in it together, it doesn't take long for them to believe that there must be folks who AREN'T in it with them. For bloggers, that seems to mean that traditional wine writers aren't with them and this has caused some degree of an "us v. them" mentality, among bloggers and non-bloggers.

That same type of camaraderie has never existed among the traditional wine writing fraternity.

I actually have proof in the form of data that demonstrates that non-blogging wine writers have a certain disdain for bloggers. There are any number of reasons why this might be the case. The most prominent reasons are they don't think most bloggers have the chops and they associate the relatively recent difficulty in sustaining a living as a wine writer to the forces that led to the emergence of bloggers: new technology and the adoption of that technology by consumers.

All this leads to traditional wine writers considering the possibility that they are in descent while bloggers are on the rise. And they may be right.

So in the end it is Attitude that separates wine bloggers from writers; the attitude that they are in it together and making a change to something that has existed for decades. Non blogging wine writers don't' feel this same urgency and never have.

Bloggers also feel a different kind of urgency that the typical, non-blogging wine writer. The best Bloggers feel an urgency to turn their generally unpaid pursuit into some sort of career path or at least into a venture that aids another career path. While I've noted an urgency on the part of non-blogging wine writers, that urgency is one that makes them question their own career path. It's becoming more and more difficult to make a living at wine writing just as it is becoming more and more difficult to make a living at writing in general.

Maybe it's time for non-blogging wine writers to have their own conference to explore their situation and confer on ways to stabilize the economics of their career choice. But I have to wonder if that conference wouldn't be dominated by bloggers who show up determined to demonstrate that they are the future of wine writing.

General McChrystal and Alcohol Regulators: Subverting Democracy

In criticizing the Obama administration General Stanley McChrystal made a fundamental mistake that is too often perpetrated in our society: He mistook himself for a politicians when he is really just an administrator. The reason this is such an important mistake is because the fundamental role of an administrator is to carry out policy. The fundamental role of a politician is to make policy on behalf of the people. The key difference here is that a politician has a constituency, that group that America's Founding Fathers identified as "The People" and who are the ultimate authority. An administrator has no constituency other than the politicians who tell them what to do and to whom they are beholden.

The same mistake was made by the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA) when they endorsed H.R. 5034, a bill introduced into Congress that would fundamentally alter the political power between the federal and state governments. The NABCA is an association of alcohol administrators in states where the government controls some portion of the sale of alcohol and who are APPOINTED by politicians to carry out the will of the politicians' constituency: The People. When the NABCA endorsed H.R. 5034, they made the same mistake as General McChrystal did of confusing their position in the hierarchy of political power by taking on the role of politician rather than that of administrators.

It turns out another association of alcohol administrators, The National Conference of State Liquor Administrators (NCSLA) is considering making the same mistake. These kind of mistakes subvert democracy and often effect the rights of The People in ways that administrators have no business doing.

The annual conference of the NCSLA is finishing up today in New Orleans. Yesterday there was a heated debate over H.R. 5034 between wholesalers and producers with wholesalers arguing that states had lost much of their power to regulate alcohol according to the 21st Amendment due to the Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court decision and subsequent lawsuits. Meanwhile producers argued that passage of H.R. 5034 would not only fundamentally alter the relationship between state and federal authority where alcohol regulations are concerned, but severely damage the position of producers in the market while enshrining wholesalers as the most powerful and controlling entity within the alcohol distribution system.

It's good that these kind of debates occur. They air out the issue and allow stakeholders to do what stakeholders should do: stake out a position. However, where politics are concerned (and the question of the virtue of H.R. 5034 is most definitely a political issue) state regulators are decidedly NOT stakeholders.

At the end of yesterday's debate at the NCSLA Convention, wholesalers asked the numerous state alcohol regulators in the room to support H.R. 5034. Producers asked them not to. The NCSLA should heed the advice of the producers and, as an organization of administrators with no constituency other than their politicians who appointed them and make the laws they administer, take no position on the bill. By asking the regulators to support the bill the wholesalers in the room were asking administrators to step into a political fray of which they have no business being a part.

If the NCSLA takes a position on H.R. 5034 it would not be the first time alcohol administrators usurped the power of The People and their representatives. Not long ago Nida Samona, a mere political appointee as the Chairwoman of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, worked closely with wholesalers to help fundamentally alter the ability of Michiganders to access wine shipped to them from retailers. She forcefully supported a bill in Michigan while closely working with wholesalers in that state. It was an unconscionable and unethical overreach by an administrator who mistook herself for a politician. And just as General McChrystal should be sacked, so too should have Ms. Samona.

If the NCSLA comes down on the side of the wholesalers and endorses H.R. 5034 they will formally announce themselves as no longer being the fair and impartial administrators of alcohol policy that they are supposed to be. They will announce themselves as lackeys of the wholesalers.

What I Know and Think About Wine Blogging

Five years in to the wine blogging revolution and five days out from the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference, it's time to assess the things I now know and think about wine blogging and wine bloggers.

1. Given the number of new and compelling voices that make up the wine blogosphere, it's clear to me that prior to the emergence of this self-publishing revolution literary-minded wine lovers were denied access to what must have been a host of fascinating voices who could have expanded all of our views about wine were it not for their lack of a venue to publish their thoughts, commentary and ideas.

2. Wine lovers find themselves living and drinking in a "Golden Age" of wine writing.

3. The only difference between the wine blogosphere and the traditional wine media is that those getting compensated to do their writing are paid slightly more than the bloggers who are doing it for free.

4. There is no reason to believe there will be a "culling" or "fall out" of wine bloggers...they'll just keep coming and emerging and growing in number.

5. There is extraordinary opportunity for one or more wine bloggers to bust out of their relative anonymity and become highly influential with hard core wine lovers if only the right person finds a way to become a comprehensive source of wine reviews.

6. I remain shocked that no one has taken the easiest path to wine blogging success and fame: creating a blog that chronicles the wine drinking habits of the rich and famous.

7. It is somewhat disconcerting to me that while I make a very good living as a wine public relations consultant, I am best known in the wine industry as a blogger with an audience to exploit.

8. I'm flabbergasted that no one has taken the most obvious path to wine blogging success: post 5 to 10 times per day on intriguing topics.

9. Five plus years of blogging, 2,085 posts and 13,165 comments later, I still get excited when I'm alerted that there is a new comment on my blog, making me wonder if blogging really isn't just best understood as a good source of adrenalin. 

10. Walla Walla, Washington, the host of the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference, has a remarkable public relations opportunity that is unlikely to be missed.

Stupid Alcohol Law Number 284

I am committed to the notion that, beyond a point, government and the society it represents does more harm than good in trying to overcome the seeming innate stupidity that always infects a certain portion of the community.

It appears the United Kingdom is not with me on this one.

There is a move in the United kingdom to reduce the legal blood alcohol limit a driver may possess to .02 and many believe this is a precursor to making 0.00 the legal blood alcohol limit a driver may possess.  What does that mean?

"This level is seen as effectively banning any drinking before driving because it allows only for levels of alcohol that occur from a dose of cough medicine, a mouthful of Communion wine or a bowlful of sherry trifle."

Actually, it means more than that.

• It means that folks perfectly capable of driving a car with great skill and competence will be arrested and their lives hugely disrupted with no evidence at all that their driving is impaired.

• It means that restaurants will have to lay off workers because fewer people will eat out for fear of being pulled over and arrested for having eaten a sherry trifle or having a half glass of wine.

• It means the their will be many more Britons lining up to make a living as taxi drivers.

• It means fewer people will have the pleasure of enjoying a glass of wine with their meal when they eat out at restaurants or go to a friends home for a meal.

• It means nothing to that percentage of society that are innately stupid (they'll still drink too much and drive their car into people and things.

Thankfully, this initiative is underway in the UK and not in the United States. I'm not going argue that as goes the UK goes the U.S. where alcohol policy is concerned. That would mark me as a buffoon. So, let's just be content to note that it appears that among the innately stupid in British Society, one finds policy makers. And in that respect, the UK is not so different from the U.S.

Free Wine Market Fans: Support WA State's Initiative 1100

Washington State finds itself in the midst of a campaign for reform that is extraordinarily rare. Initiative 1000 is a ballot initiative that would wholly transform the alcohol distribution system in that state to make it more open, more reliant on free market principles, less dependent on middlemen wholesalers and one of the first states to throw overboard nearly completely the three-tier system of  alcohol distribution created in the 1930s.

The primary results of passage of Initiative 1100 are:

1. Dismantling the state monopoly on sales of spirits
2. Repealing the requirement that spirits be sold through a middleman
3. Abolishing the state's mandatory markup on spirits
4. Allow Quantity Discounts
5. Allows credit terms to be offered by producers to retailers and restaurants
6. Allows producers to give items of value to retailers and restaurants

In initiative 1100's Section One preamble, it states:

"The people of Washington State desire that the Liquor Control Board focus on its core mission of education and enforcement to protect the health, welfare and safety of the citizens.

In order to strengthen the agency to more effectively educate the public, combat abuse, collect tax revenue and enforce state liquor laws, the Washington State Liquor Control Board will stop selling liquor and end its Prohibition-era monopoly on selling distilled spirits. The state will license the sale of distilled spirits to strictly regulated vendors who are already proven to be responsible sellers of beer and wine.

This initiative will improve regulations to prevent abusive and underage drinking, enforce licensing regulations and collect taxes for the State’s general fund.

David Kesmodol, writing in the Wall Street Journal, correctly described the import of Initiative 1100 when he noted, "The effort is being closely watched by producers, distributors and retailers of beer, wine and liquor across the U.S. because it would mark the most sweeping overhaul of any state's alcohol trade regulations in years and could presage similar proposals in other states."

As one might imagine, these changes are opposed by the middle tier of the alcohol distribution system for the simple reason that it removes certain advantage given to that tier. But in addition to that, Initiative 1100 is a direct assault on the principles of the three-tier system, that method of regulation that exists in most states across the country and provide the middle tier of wholesalers with advantages over the other two tiers never imagined by those who devised the system over 70 years ago.

The November ballot initiative that would make Washington State the most liberal in the country where alcohol regulations are concerned, is supported by a variety of groups including retailers, restaurants, and wineries. However, it's the support of Costco, the Washington State-based big box store that is most critical to the initiative's success. To-date, Costco has given more than $650,000 to the yes-on-1100 effort and appears to have been responsible for collecting the signatures necessary to put it on the ballot.

As you recall, Costco sued the state of Washington, arguing that most of the state laws being dismantled by 1100 were unconstitutional. Though they won parts of the lawsuit, they also lost parts. Initiative 1100 would give then the win at the ballot box that they failed to obtain in the courts.

Those who have argued that the strict three tier system in place in most states is antiquated, restricts the development of free markets, hinders the growth of entrepreneurship in the alcohol industry and protects middlemen unfairly will want to see this initiative pass. A poll taken in early May showed that 52% of respondents supported the initiative, 37% opposed it and 8% remained undecided.

Between now and November there will be a tremendous amount of politicking over 1100. Supporters of Initiative 1100 will need to show that those claiming it would lead to more drinking by minors and adults alike are simply wrong. They will of course be looking to CA to demonstrate this, where beer, wine and spirits can be sold directly to retailers and restaurants by producers and importers. Supporters will also have to overcome a competing ballot initiative (1105) that would keep the three tier system in place, but take the state out of the sale and marketing of spirits. Wholesalers, State Worker Unions and health advocates will strong oppose 1100. The primary funding for the opposition effort is likely to come from individual wholesalers and public employee unions that fear jobs will be lost if the state gets out of the spirits business.

I've argued that the key to creating a well-regulated, efficient alcohol distribution system that honors concerns over abuse as well as the free market results from reforms that allow for winery/retailer-to-consumer shipping rights as well as "self distribution" rights that allow producers to sell directly to retailers and restaurants without any mandatory sale to middlemen wholesalers. Washington State will be testing citizens desires to have nearly exactly such a system (it remains illegal for consumers to have wine shipped to them from out-of-state wine stores).