The Best Five Days of My Wine Industry Year

A little insight into the rest of my day

What exactly does a wine Substacker do when not substacking? This is the subject of today’s article as I prepare to head to New York State to oversee a gathering of America’s best wine retailers.

As many of you know, while I’ve been writing about the business and culture of wine for two decades, I also have a day job. Since 1990 that day job has been as a media and public relations specialist working in the wine space. I haven’t counted, but I’d guess I’ve worked with 100 different clients over the past 30 years.

However, 17 years ago I landed my dream client: The National Association of Wine Retailers (NAWR)— a trade association of America’s best wine retailers all bent on reforming an archaic alcohol regulatory system with particular emphasis on shipping and inventory procurement. As the NAWR’s Executive Director, I oversee a great number of things. But one of the true pleasures of this position is taking the lead in organizing NAWR’s annual Wine Retailer Summit. That Summit is happening next week in White Plains, New York. What that means is I have no business writing this article. I should instead be double-checking the A/V, the meals, and the panelists’ preparedness.

The Summit is an invitation-only gathering of retailers, alcohol industry attorneys, importers, and associated businesses who gather in an intimate setting each year to discuss the state of the retail industry, the politics, and the legal aspects of the alcohol regulatory system. The attendees are largely NAWR Members, as well as invited nonmembers and speakers.

The Summit Agenda can be found here. The Summit speakers can be found here.

The National Association of Wine Retailers is a special kind of alcohol industry trade association. Yes, it provides excellent benefits for its members including shipping and legal benefits. Yes, NAWR represents its members within the industry, at state legislatures, and in the courts. But it takes a position and pursues a mission different than any other association of wine industry participants: NAWR advocates for systemic change in the alcohol regulatory system (Yes, that means the Three-Tier System).

Every other alcohol trade association I know pays homage to and supports the three-tier system with its devotion to rent-seeking regulations, anti-competitive rules, and outdated and archaic laws that inhibit the growth of the industry and deter consumers from full access to the thousands of remarkable craft products from around the country and the world. Not NAWR.

This position is exceedingly rare. There are upwards of over 100 state and national wholesaler trade associations in the U.S. There are more than 50 state and national retailer trade associations in the U.S. There are over 200 producer trade associations in the U.S. And there are likely another 30 or so other alcohol-related trade associations of various stripes. I can count on one hand those that publicly acknowledge the serious flaws in the three-tier system.

It’s easy to see how this kind of ideological isolation might lead some to believe NAWR just doesn’t understand the alcohol industry or the utility of its most common form of alcohol regulation in the country. They’d be wrong. The more accurate conclusion is 1) NAWR isn’t captured, 2) NAWR doesn’t fear, and 3) NAWR is willing to say the quiet part out loud.

Among the activities of NAWR is its introduction and promotion of legislation in states across the country to allow interstate direct shipment from retailers. This sales and distribution avenue is illegal in all but 13 states. NAWR also supports lawsuits in several states that challenge discriminatory bans on wine shipments from out-of-state retailers as well as lawsuits challenging discriminatory bans on retailers purchasing inventory directly from out-of-state producers instead of merely in-state wholesalers. NAWR has filed amicus briefs in various Supreme Court and Circuit Court cases, its members have served as plaintiffs in various lawsuits, and its members have served as expert witnesses in various lawsuits challenging discriminatory laws.

Equally important is NAWR’s support of the producer tier and consumers. NAWR vocally supports DTC shipments from brewers and distillers to consumers, despite being told it is not in its interest. This can’t be said for other retailer or most producer trade associations in the country.

At least half and often more of my day is spent working on NAWR issues. The other half is spent working on behalf of other clients and on your behalf writing this newsletter. Many of you will notice I rarely refer to my clients, including NAWR, in these pages. There are a lot of good reasons for this and it’s a practice I’ll continue going forward.

But I mention it in this newsletter to explain why I may miss an issue next week when I’ll be making sure the show runs well, managing panelists and speakers, giving my own talk on “The State of Wine Retailing” and moderating a few panels.

So, if you will, forgive me for this possible absence while I go off to attend to five of my favorite wine industry days of the year.