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Please read the whole post on Vinography:

Are You A Wine Lover? Then Call Your House Representative. Now.

I've been known to spout an opinion now and again about the Three Tier alcohol distribution system in this country, and the maddening array of ridiculous regulations that govern our ability to purchase alcohol. Mostly, however, I stay out of the fray because I'd rather write about, and I'm sure you'd rather read about, fantastic wines.

But something happened yesterday that sent chills down my spine, and made it imperative that I broadcast to as many of you as possible the urgent need to call your Congressional Representative immediately. When you get one of their aides on the phone here's what you need to say:

Under no circumstances should they vote for a house bill HR 5034: The Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010.

While this would be bad for us personally and what we are trying to do here, it is nothing compared to what it would mean for millions of consumers and entrepreneurs in the U.S.

Late last fall I got an email from Howard Hewitt (that is Howard with Arianna Gelpke from Corzano e Paterno in the photo) - he was going to be in Tuscany and was looking for an alternative wine tour. He had found Florence Wine Merchants somewhere on the web, and we started an email dialogue that ended up with us taking a trip to the wineries/agriturismos of Corzano e Paterno and Fattoria Rignana, with a stop for lunch in Greve in Chianti for good measure.

Howard was kind enough to write up some of our experiences that day (New Year's Eve day 2009!) and also explain what I am trying to do here with Florence Wine Merchants in a new article that just went live on the Palate Press: "Small Italian Wineries Struggle to Crack U.S. Market"

I can't thank him enough for his help in spreading the word. Check out his blog Grape Sense - A Glass Half Full when you get a chance.

Picked this up from Vinography, the story was originally from the Wall Street Journal:

Amazon.com has ended a trial program to sell wine online, the company confirmed.

The wine sales pilot, which the e-commerce giant launched last year, was intended to sell wine from California's Napa Valley and other U.S. regions.

An Amazon spokesman declined to give details about why the company ended the program.

The end of the program may have been related to financial troubles at partner New Vine Logistics, which had been tapped to handle shipments for Amazon. Over the summer, that company suspended operations amid financial problems, but then later got new investment from Inertia Beverage Group.

I had met a guy here (Florence) in June who said his company was the logistics partner for Amazon and that they were already selling wine online - I had told me I didn't think that was the case yet - I think I was right :)

Anyway - is this news good, bad, etc? I think it is a little bit of the sign of the times - if there was strong demand, I think Amazon would have found a way forward, with or without New Vine (especially since Inertia has now assumed New Vine's operation). But the facts are that we are in a wine glut, demand on the top end is weak, and due to expansion and technology there is jut a ton of wine in the world. It is great news for most consumers, but weak news overall for the wine economy.

Well cinderellawine.com - the newest venture from Gary Vaynerchuk and the Wine Library - went live last night, and their first wine just had to be from Tuscany!

The offering is the 2003 "Solengo" IGT from Argiano - at the unheard of price of $23.33 a bottle - with free shipping on orders of 3 bottles or more. It is interesting to me for a lot of reasons, but first and foremost it has to send a shiver down the spines of Tuscan winemakers. We are seeing some true price (and perhaps brand) destruction. Once wines like this start selling at these prices, others are sure to follow. And what do makers of Chianti Classico do? Plenty Classicos are in this price range, with most Riservas beyond this price point. I am not saying this is categorically "bad" news for the industry, but it could be a harbinger of new parameters of price that will force many people to rethink what they are doing - and I mean everyone in the business.

To those of you who are going to buy some - enjoy!

From the NY Times:

The reason is simple. Wine is a cash-flow business, and all along the pipeline, from farm to production to sales, cash is not flowing. Growers are behind on sales of grapes, which are fetching much lower prices than last year. Sales are sluggish for wines retailing at $15 a bottle and higher. Meanwhile, distributors, restaurants and retail shops are reluctant to buy more wine, preferring to sell through what they already have.

The whole thing is worth a read.

Really good article up on the "Fermentation" wine blog discussing the horror of the antiquated three-tier system that strangles many states, "The Three-Tier System and Consumer Access To Wine".

This is just another in a long list of reasons that large, commercial wineries not only thrive but dominate the market. If it was easier to get small producers into markets and everyone wasn't focussed on the economies of scale, we'd all be drinking much better wine.

Well I have been in the NJ/NY area for a couple of weeks now and have been in several wine shops and the picture that is emerging is of the industry on the brink of collapse. You are not going to read this kind of stuff in trade magazines or newspapers I am sure since no one wants to create a panic, but from what I have seen and heard the wine glut is real, the high end is totally stagnant, and it is just a matter of time before there are more wine related business failures of all kinds (vineyards, distributors, retailers, etc.).

If I had a nickel for each person that told me the only thing that is selling is under $13 a bottle wine... you know the rest. Some of the rumors and anecdotes I have heard so far: premier French producer offering what was once $400 a case (wholesale!) wine for $150 case. Several NJ/NY importers/distributors belly up this year already. The creation of new labels to move expensive wine cheaply in an attempt to stave off brand destruction, etc.

This is going to become an even bigger issue as wineries and distributors dump product and large retailers have huge sales (that are now nationwide with the Internet) - why pay $80 for a Brunello when you can get the same thing for $40 (or $30!) with a little patience and shopping around. There is going to be some serious price destruction to the top tier wines - from everywhere. Personally I think the whole retail world is going to go this route - not only is there a product glut - there is a luxury product glut. We have begun the process of going backward in time, when only genuinely wealthy people bought luxury items, because they could afford them, and not when everyone buys luxury items after cashing out the home ATM or charging it on their credit card. It is going to be an interesting time as this all shakes out.

New Vine Logistics is was a wine related company that few probably had heard of but that was a rather important bottle in the US and California wine case - until they closed up shop a week ago (Alder has the story on Vinography).

This matters to me all the way in Florence since they were one of the companies we were looking at to handle our direct to consumer efforts. Unfortunately this is just another reminder of how fragile the economy is as a whole, and that wine sales in the US must be suffering on several levels. I am just glad that we were not far enough along in the process to actually have wine placed at this facility - I can't imagine the logistical nightmare of having the wine of 5 or 10 wineries in the New Vine warehouses at the moment!

So I have learned a lot in the last couple of weeks. It seems the direct to consumer movement (wineries selling direct from the web) is growing rapidly, as is the amount of logistics/fulfillment houses that are providing these services (I am going to make a page here soon full of links of the various companies that provide these types of services). I have received a lot of valuable advice so far from Greg Roberts of Roberts Fine Wines. Greg is doing something very similar to what I want to do, but with French wines instead of Italian. So, I am much closer to finally bringing some wine to the US and being able to sell it legally in most states. At the moment, we are hoping for a September launch, but we may try one winery before that just as a test - I will keep you posted.

Today we will be attending the XIII Alla Corte del Vino event in San Casciano - unfortunately (in one sense) the wineries present are very large and already well represented in the world for the most part. I just want to do some selective tasting and poke around to see if any of them are interested in the direct to consumer model. Hopefully I will have some photos of the event to post.

Eric Asimov has an interesting article in the NY Times about affordable but interesting American wine. He says there is more variety in Europe:

"Good bottles galore come from Italy and France, Spain and other historic Old World wine-producing regions. It's far more difficult to find inexpensive wines of real interest from the United States."

And then wonders why it is even harder to find quality inexpensive American reds:

"Why are interesting inexpensive reds harder to find? I don't honestly know. I can speculate that the public has embraced a greater stylistic range for whites than for reds, which accounts for the many crisp, lively whites available. Reds are still mimicking the expensive wines."

This whole discussion ties into what we will eventually be trying to do here. The reds are not out there because they are too expensive to make, because the "market" and wine press tell people what is good (California Cabernet baby!), and because they are not commercially viable in a purely profit driven business environment (i.e. the U.S.). When people say they are drinking good red wine under $15 or especially under $10 a bottle - they usually aren't. With red you need quality fruit, an aging period (usually in wood of some sort), etc. etc. that immediately brings the price point up (this is why you find so many awful ideas - like oak chips or worse - the pursuit of a an inexpensive quality red).

With whites you can go straight from stainless to the bottle and still make terrific wines. But with the American market dynamics of immediate profitability and selling to the whole country and selling more bottles every year, etc. etc. there is a lack of incubation process for small interesting wines. Not that they don't exist - I am sure they do and I believe they will be a growing phenomenon across the country. But at the moment there probably is much more variety here on this side of the pond, and soon we will be making some of it available to you.