A group of wine merchants, wine auction houses, wine Internet retailers, catalogers and wine clubs formed the Specialty Wine Retailers Association to encourage states to create a borderless national wine marketplace, the Sacramento, CA-based not-for-profit reported yesterday.
SWRA's members include 1-800-Flowers.com, Beverages & More, Bonhams & Butterfields, Houdini, K & L Wine Merchants and other merchants operating in 30 states. They want the same privilege to ship directly to consumers that is granted to wineries to be applied to retailers as well.
“As a result of the May 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, 33 states now allow licensed, out-of-state wineries to ship directly to their consumers. But only 12 states, at most, allow retailers to do the same,” SWRA president Lesley P. Berglund said in a statement.
SWRA is working with other organizations involved in this issue, such as Free the Grapes!, Coalition for Free Trade and the wine industry's lobbying organizations.
Chantal Todé covers catalog and retail news and BTB marketing for DM News and DM News.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
