Free the Grapes! National Toast Scheduled
Tonight to Celebrate Supreme Court Justices' Support for Wine Direct
Shipping
NAPA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2005--Free the
Grapes!, a national coalition of more than 300,000 wine lovers and 2,000
wineries seeking to ensure access to wine, has scheduled a national
toast this evening to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in favor
of interstate, direct-to-consumer wine shipping. (www.freethegrapes.org).
"Raise a glass at dinner tonight and toast the wisdom of the Supreme
Court's ruling," asked Jeremy Benson, executive director of Free
the Grapes! "We're asking everyone who loves wine to participate
-- consumers, winemakers, retailers, restaurateurs, brokers and even
wholesalers. There are no losers today. Today's historic ruling will
benefit each tier of the wine industry," he added.
Despite the ruling, the grapes are not immediately free.
The next step is for affected states to pass the existing model direct
shipping bill, which is operating successfully in a number of states
and was recommended for adoption by the National Conference of State
Legislatures' Task Force on the Wine Industry, in 1997.
"Discriminatory laws won't change overnight. We need
our Free the Grapes! members now, more than ever, to write their legislators
in support of legal, regulated direct shipping that was endorsed today
by the Supreme Court," Benson added. The Free the Grapes! website
allows consumers to personalize and automatically send messages to their
state legislators. The wine industry's public policy trade associations,
including Wine Institute, WineAmerica and Family Winemakers of California,
will now work with legislators in the affect states.
A wine war pits wine consumers -- who want to purchase
wine directly from wineries -- against the $32 billion dollar wholesaler
cartel, who want all purchases to flow through them. The wholesaler
middlemen have aggressively supported legislation creating state-sanctioned
monopolies in wine distribution in many states, triggering lawsuits,
a thorough study by the Federal Trade Commission, and consumer outrage.
The ruling is widely interpreted as a boon for wine
consumers. In its July 2003 report, the FTC characterized state shipping
bans as "... the single largest regulatory barrier to expanded
e-commerce in wine," and that they "prevent consumers from
saving as much as 21 percent on some wines and from conveniently purchasing
many popular wines from suppliers around the country."
Contacts
Free the Grapes!
Jeremy Benson, 707-254-1107
fedup@freethegrapes.org
