SupremeCrtFAQ_news

AUG-SEPT 2005

7/9/05

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— wine news —

AUG/SEPT 2005

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2005

HOT OFF THE VINE

®

The Wine Report

Want to order a bottle of wine by mail?

Dan Thompson Publisher Gil Kulers Editor

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Steve Stevens Associate Editor

DIRECT SHIPPING

FAQs

Karen Siegel Advertising & Marketing Director Wes Dewhurst Account Executive Brent Winter Copyediting Hope S. Philbrick Calendar Editor Gina Cook Wine Reviews Editor Dan Kehoe Michael Moss Tasting Panel Coordinators Gregory D. McCluney Contributing Editor Indian Paper Graphic Design & Layout Kathy A. Arturo Debbi Smith Advertising Design Rich Fuscia Distribution Manager Brent Schwarz Marketing Assistant Ben Heisler Intern Distribution Staff: Affinity Marketing Andrew Angstenberger Chuck Hardin David Harris Michele Martin Rob McAlister Jack Wagner Rodney White Contributions This Issue: Kevin Bell Katie Kelly Bell Condé Thompson Cox Steven Kolpan Pat Lewis Lou Marmon Dave McIntyre Rob Orihuela Mark Orler Gray Tumaro The Wine Report is published bi-monthly. Copyright © 2005 The Wine Report. All Rights Reserved.

Issues are complimentary when visiting our distribution points. The Wine Report and The Wine Report logo are registered trademarks of Wine & Culinary, LLC. a company of Vanquish Acquisition Partners LLC, 590 Madison Ave., 21st Floor, NY, NY 10022.

To have The Wine Report delivered to your home or office, please contact us using the information below. Annual subscription rate: $18. For subscriptions, submissions and all correspondence, write to: T H E W I N E R E P O RT

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Viewpoints expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily those of the publishers. Please recycle this magazine.

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n May, when the Supreme Court struck down New York and Michigan shipping laws that discriminated against out-of-state wineries, small winemakers everywhere cheered. Finally, they thought, unfair state legal barriers will crumble like the Berlin Wall and we’ll be able to ship our wines anywhere to anyone who is old enough to buy them.

Well, not so fast. The vast and confusing maze of laws governing the shipment of wine within states and from one state to another remains vast and confusing. The only laws directly affected by the Supreme Court’s decision are the New York and Michigan laws specifically addressed in that decision, but even in those states, it is not clear what the changes will be.

So how does this affect you? Can you jump online right now and buy that bottle of Merlot you found on vacation in upstate New York? Can your cousin in Arizona log on and order that Cabernet blend from your favorite local winery? In an effort to shed some light on the subject, here are some answers to questions we’ve been asked recently:

Q

THE SUPREME COURT OPINION WAS 70 PAGES OF LEGAL

3. See the offending laws challenged by lawsuit in lower courts, in which case they will probably be struck down because the lower courts take their cues from the Supremes. And we don’t mean the ’60s R&B group.

Q

CAN A STATE JUST DECIDE NOT TO LET ANY WINERY

SHIP WINE?

A

Yes. And in fact, some officials have misjudged certain states’ moods on this. Lawyers who argued the recent Supreme Court cases told The Wine Report they doubted whether states would try to ban direct shipping altogether because they thought such a ban would destroy many, if not all, small in-state wineries. However, some states are doing just that. After 30 years of allowing in-state wineries to ship wine to their customers, officials in Indiana reacted to the Supreme Court decision by reinterpreting their own law and banning the practice altogether. Similar efforts are taking place in Illinois and Michigan. If those efforts succeed, many of those states’ small wineries will probably have to close their doors.

GOBBLEDYGOOK. IS THERE ANY WAY TO BOIL IT DOWN TO LAY-

Q

MAN’S TERMS?

STATE. EVEN IF IT’S OK WITH MY HOME STATE, HOW DO I KNOW

A

I WON’T GET IN TROUBLE BY ORDERING FROM SOME OTHER

You could say that the court told states they must love their neighbors as they love themselves. This means states can no longer treat out-of-state wineries differently from in-state wineries. If they allow their own in-staters to ship wine directly to consumers then they must also allow out-of-staters to ship wine directly to consumers. To do otherwise, the court decided, is to unfairly restrict interstate commerce.

Q

SINCE THE WINERIES DEFEATED THE STATES, CAN I ORDER

WINE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY NOW?

A No. Each state has its own set of laws governing the shipment

of wine, and the Supreme Court’s recent decision has not changed that. Getting wine by mail still depends on essentially two things: the laws in the state where you live and the laws in the state where the winery from which you’re ordering is located. Both state governments have to be OK with some sort of shipping arrangement for you to legally get that wine delivered to your doorstep.

Q

IT SEEMS LIKE LITTLE HAS CHANGED, SO WHY ALL THE

FUSS OVER THIS COURT DECISION? WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?

A The big deal is that, though little has changed for now, a lot

will change in the near future. Almost half of the states in America woke up one day and found their laws governing the shipment of wine are now unconstitutional in the eyes of the federal government.

Those states now have three choices: 1. Change state law on their own, as New York and Michigan are doing and as most states will probably do.

2. Do nothing and hope no one sues them.

I CAN’T KEEP UP WITH THE SHIPPING LAWS IN EVERY

STATE THAT HAS A PROBLEM WITH IT?

A Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to that question, but

there are some helpful resources out there. The best and most current is a special section on the Web site of the Wine Institute, a policy advocate for California wineries (find it at www.wineinstitute.org/ shipwine). Click on any state in an interactive map to find a summary of their shipping laws and get up to speed on the legal issues with white papers and links to more information. Or if you’d rather get the scoop straight from the horse’s mouth, the site has contact information for every state’s alcohol control organization.

Q

WHAT ABOUT THE WINE REPORT READERS IN GEORGIA,

NORTH CAROLINA AND ALABAMA? CAN THEY HAVE WINE SHIPPED TO THEIR HOMES NOW?

A

Well, again the rules depend on the state in which those people live. Alabama consumers cannot get wine directly shipped to them, but they can get it shipped to a state-run store and then pick it up. North Carolina law allows consumers to get two cases a month shipped to them, but Georgia regulations are a bit more complex. Georgians can get their wine shipped to them if they are present at the winery when they order it or if the winery has no Georgia distributor. Then the state allows shipping to take place but places restrictions on the amount wineries can send and consumers can receive. For the foreseeable future, the high court’s decision won’t affect any of these states because they already do what the court has mandated: Treat in-state and out-of-state wineries the same.

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The Napa Name Game The state of California decides that the grapes winemakers put on the label must be the same grapes they put in the bottle

W

hat’s in a name? Not much, according to Shakespeare, but a lot according to the California courts.

Fred Franzia, progenitor of the inexpensive Charles Shaw wine known as Two-Buck Chuck, lost his recent court battle to keep the word “Napa” on the labels of some of his other wine in spite of the fact that no Napa grapes go into that wine. The court said Franzia’s Bronco Wine Co. had to either quit using the Napa designation on the wines or start using Napa grapes in them. In doing so, the court affirmed a 2000 California law that requires at least 75 percent of a wine’s grapes to come from the county on its label. Franzia tried unsuccessfully to claim that a 1986 federal law superseded the California law.

“The decision is very gratifying,” said Tom Shelton, former president of Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) and current president of Joseph Phelps Vineyards. NVV has been battling to protect the Napa name for years and sees Franzia’s attempt to use the name without using the grapes as an attack on the integrity of the Napa brand. Franzia has 90 days to decide whether to appeal his case to the California Supreme Court.

— wine news —

New York Firm Buys International Wine Summit Owners of T he Wine Repo r t aquire The South’s oldest wine competition

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2005

CHECK THIS OUT

Atlanta

Atlanta

Don’t miss our 6TH ANNUAL WINE SOUTH festival at the Gwinnett Center, Sept. 17 & 18. Sample over 600 wines alongside cuisine from more than 40 area restaurants. Enjoy celebrity chef cooking demonstrations, educational wine seminars, music,

Vanquish Acquisition Partners, a New York merchant banking firm and owner of the Wine Report magazine, is acquiring the Atlanta International Wine Summit (AIWS), the oldest wine competition in the Southeast. Vanquish will then own both companies through a subsidiary, L.A. Publishing & Media Group, LLC. “It is our intention to develop the Atlanta International Wine Summit into one of the top wine judging bodies in the industry,” said Joseph Del Valle, Vanquish’s senior partner. “One of our objectives is to reorganize the tasting panel to include the most respected sommeliers in the industry.” Del Valle added that Vanquish plans to grow the just-purchased wine competition’s “capabilities and credibility within the world of wine and spirits,” and that Vanquish is thrilled about the opportunities that exist between the AIWS and Wine South, one of the South’s largest wine festivals and another Vanquish holding.

The 22-year-old AIWS, founded by Atlanta wine writer Bruce Galphin, typically evaluates more than 1,100 wines from around the world at the annual show and awards gold, silver and bronze medals in numerous categories.

Pat Driscoll, president and CEO of the AIWS, said she decided to sell for personal reasons, but that the future of the show looks bright. The deal should be finalized by August.

art displays and more. 12:30-5 p.m. both days.

Tickets: $55/day or $100/weekend pass in advance; $60/day or $110/weekend pass at the door. $40/ designated drivers. Attendees must be age 21 or older. (678) 985-9494 or www.winesouth.com. For details about hotel packages available at Atlanta Marriott Gwinnett Place, Hampton Inn Lawrenceville and Holiday Inn Duluth, visit www.winesouth. com/hotels.htm.

❦ Birmingham

Birmingham

Gear up for the season with FALL & FOOTBALL KICKOFF WEEK at The Village Wine Market, Sept. 6 -10.

Tues. “practice” tasting features 10 wines for less than $12. Weds. lineup includes 10 wines from Argentina, Austria, Portugal, South Africa, and Spain.

Thurs. “scrimmage” serves up 10 wines from Australia, Calif., France, Italy and Ore. The 10 players on Fri. represent single-vineyard wines from around

Twice The Mondavis, Twice The Money Some old-fashioned Hollywood hype and the reunion of two legendary brothers helped this year’s Napa wine auction double its take

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shortened the live auction and created a Friday festival that catered to the local Napa crowd.

Many of these changes were deemed risky.

Nevertheless, star power opens a lot of wallets, and the luminaries attending this year’s event definitely had an impact on the auction’s bottom line.Tonight Show host Jay Leno did an opening monologue and then stuck around through the first dozen or so lots to fire up the crowd. One of those was lot #407, which, along with wines from Frank Family Vineyards, included dinner with sexy “Desperate Housewives” star Teri Hatcher and a walk-on role in the hit TV show. Hatcher told Leno and the crowd: “There’s a lot I’ll do for more money.” The package sold for $300,000.

FAITH ECHTERMEYER

FAITH ECHTERMEYER

n 2000, the Napa Valley Wine Auction earned $9.5 million, making it the premier wine auction in the country. In 2001, the story was quite different. The numbers tumbled as the Napa auction saw other auctions around the country take center stage.

But at this year’s auction, there was a defiant sense of redemption in the air.

Rechristened as Auction Napa Valley, the charity wine auction’s 25th incarnation doubled its take from last year, raising $10.5 million over three days in June for local charities.

Organizers did it by dramatically changing how they put the event together. In addition to the name change, they tripled the price of admission to a startling $7,500 a couple,

At left, TV stars Teri Hatcher and Jay Leno play to the crowd; At right, Peter Mondavi reaches out to brother Robert as they show off their first dual winemaking effort in 50 years.

Perhaps the most anticipated lot of the night was the barrel of wine made by brothers Robert and Peter Mondavi and their sons.

After famously feuding for the better part of 50 years, the two legendary winemakers, now in their 90s, buried the hatchet and produced one barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon for the auction.

The auction has made great strides since its 1981 inception, when it raised $141,000.

This year’s top-selling lots were: The Mondavis’ barrel, including dinner with the brothers, and tastings testing the wine’s progress; then, finally, 60 magnums of the wine with the etched signatures of both Robert and Peter — $401,000.

A rare quartet of double magnums from Colgin Cellars’ 2001 vintage and an extravagant dinner with vintner Ann Colgin at the winery — $650,000.

For five couples, a package of hand-picked wines and private dinners from five of Napa’s best-regarded wineries, including Silver Oak Cellars and Joseph Phelps Vineyards — $550,000.

the world. The big game on Sat. showcases 11 wines from places like Napa, Sonoma, Bordeaux, Rhône, Tuscany and more. Full tasting scholarships all week mean free sips. Hours: Tues.-Fri. 4-6 p.m.; Sat. 122:30 p.m. Located at 2020 Cahaba Rd. Call (205) 879-5240 or e-mail wine@villagewinemarket.com.

❦

Charlotte

Charlotte

17TH ANNUAL LABOR DAY WINE FESTIVAL

at Pine-

hurst, Sept. 2-5, features more than 15 wineries such as Stag’s Leap, Ravenswood, and Steele/ Shooting Star, among others. The festival also features daily seminars, culinary demonstrations, a Grand Gourmet Gala on Sat. night and wine tastings.

Wines are available for purchase at reduced rates at the Wine Mart. Pinehurst boasts 8 championship golf courses, a 31,000-square-foot spa facility and 3 historic hotels. Weekend packages start at $460/ person. A Sat. Wine Festival pass is $70/person or $110/couple. (800) 487-4653. www.pinehurst.com.

Our calendar of hundreds of other wine-related events begins on page 52. If you have a winerelated event or program, we may publish your information. See page 57 for submission details.

Wine News edited by Steve Stevens

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