Faux wine retailer group spreading disinformation
Pub Date: 5/1/2006
By John Bodnovich ABL Communications Director
The Specialty Wine Retailers Association (SWRA) has recently launched a disinformation campaign meant to further confuse the issues surrounding direct shipment of wine and de-regulation.
No matter that the 21st Amendment of the Constitution was recently upheld and vigorously reaffirmed by the Supreme Court, this shadowy new group, comprised of what it claims is wine merchants, wine auction houses, wine e-tailers, cataloguers and wine clubs, seeks to encourage states to create a borderless national wine marketplace.
A closer look at who is behind this outfit gives more of a perspective on their motivations.
SWRA president, Lesley P. Berglund, is the founder of The Winetasting Network, a catalogue and on-line wine retailer that she sold to 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. in 2004 to the tune of $9.1million. Despite the sale, Berglund still appears to be in control of The Winetasting Network.
Accompanying Berglund is the group s Vice President, Litigation, Tracy Genesen. Genesen works with The Coalition for Free Trade, a non-profit organization seeking judicial relief from laws prohibiting direct-to-consumer shipments of wine.
Also listed, as SWRA s Secretary/Treasurer, is John A. Hinman, a partner with the San Francisco law firm Hinman & Carmichael, who once wrote this about the direct shipment of wine: Once the markets in the challenged states are opened, protected in-state interests correctly fear it will be impossible to close them.
While Berglund appears to have addressed increasing the reach of her company by tying wine with a relatively benign retail product flowers regulatory realities of beverage alcohol shipping have clearly chaffed her endeavor. Hence, the creation of the SWRA.
Should this group succeed in abetting with the complete destruction of the regulatory systems of all 50 states in the name of total wine market free-for-all, traditional off-premise beverage retailers would be one step closer to demise.
The group has recently come out in support of a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of Texas direct shipping laws, which was filed by Kenneth W. Starr, who has ties to Genesen.
Merger Hurts Judge & Dolph
Talk about fall-out.
It now appears that the mega-merger between Allied Domecq PLC and Pernod Ricard SA has cost Wirtz Corp., a beverage alcohol distributor based in Illinois, $95 million in annual business.
The $14 billion acquisition of Allied Domecq, whose products included Beefeater gin, Stolichnaya vodka, Sauza tequila and Maker s Mark bourbon, has seen its new owner opt to use another distributor, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc, based in Miami.
Judge & Dolph Ltd, a subsidiary of Wirtz Corp., was Allied Domecq s exclusive Illinois distributor prior to the merger. J&D still remains the exclusive distributor for drinks giant Diageo PLC, the world's largest spirits company, as well as Brown-Forman Beverages Worldwide.
This switch-over, however, illustrates the volatility of the distributor marketplace in a beverage industry with major mergers and greater consolidation.
Following the acquisition of Allied Domecq, Pernod Ricard sold a number of the former Allied Domecq labels to Fortune Brands Inc, which has been undertaking shifts in distributorships in a many states.
Judge & Dolph, an ABL Associate Member, remains a healthy company despite a loss of volume business that would cripple many organizations. It is estimated that, given some modest organic growth, Judge & Dolph s sales in 2006 will exceed $470 million.
Beer Industry Coming to Capitol Hill
America s beer distributors and brewers are gearing up for the 16th Annual NBWA/Brewers Joint Legislative Conference taking place May 8-11 in Washington, D.C., at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill.
This event provides the beer industry with a premier opportunity to sit down with members of Congress and their staffs and discuss industry policy goals and responsibility initiatives.
The Annual Legislative Conference gives beer distributors a chance to educate lawmakers about the uniqueness of beer as a product and the important roles that distributors play in the marketplace, said NBWA President Craig Purser.
On top of advocating for the entire beer industry, NBWA members will champion their livelihood and direct the attention of government officials to issues that specifically impact beer distributors bottom lines, he said.
Distributors and brewers will meet with their U.S. Representatives and Senate leaders to discuss legislative goals and issues including:
Strengthening the federal/state partnership in controlling malt beverages and preventing underage drinking';
Rolling back the 1991 federal excise tax increase on beer';
Providing small business owners with permanent estate tax relief'; and
Blocking efforts to depict a false standard serving size graphic on alcohol beverage labels.
I think attendees will be pleasantly surprised by the main topics of discussion at this year s conference," Purser said. "Certainly death tax relief and excise taxes will continue to be part of the dialog, but this industry is facing new challenges that have the ability to impact distributors bottom lines."
We have to address these major issues like regaining beer's sophisticated side and providing states with the tools to fight direct-to-consumer and direct-to-retail challenges in their legislatures.
Indiana Residents: We Don t Want Sunday Liquor Sales
In a recent newspaper poll, a majority of Hoosiers who responded said that they preferred to keep in place a state law that prohibits most Sunday alcohol sales.
The telephone survey, which was taken by The Indianapolis Star, showed 50 percent support the ban while 43 percent support loosening it. 501 Indiana residents were surveyed at the end of February for the poll. It appears that this state legislature is not prepared to take up the issue at this time, but it certainly could be on the horizon.