Scary Monsters and the Maryland Direct Shipment Proposal
When I was a little kid growing up in New Jersey, I used to love watching the old Abbott and Costello movies that were run each Sunday morning on WPIX out of New York City. My all time favorite movie by this duo was “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.” In the film, the...
Virginia Legislative Update
There are four key pieces of legislation moving their way through the Virginia legislature that impact the Commonwealth’s wineries. They are briefly detailed below, and for what it is worth, all of this information is available through the Virginia Legislative Information System which can be accessed here.
HB2071 and SB1033. Both bills are in...
Maryland Takes Another Crack at Direct Shipping
I wrote about this topic last year, and despite the unhappy ending, I am glad to see that our neighbor to the North is once again taking a shot at changing its direct wine shipping laws (for the better). Senator Jamie Raskin (my old law school professor) introduced the bill, S 388.
Among other things, the...
Top 10 Legislative and Regulatory Radars
A few days back, I wrote about keeping an eye on the horizon for gathering storms. Since I am a big believer in lighting a candle as opposed to cursing the darkness, I thought it might be helpful to identify ten easy ways to set up your own weather radar for governmental developments that...
Who’s Endorsing Your Wine?
Trying to sell some stuff? Many merchandisers are picking up the hottest endorsement around. And unlike Tiger, Lance or Tom, this star is not being compensated for his endorsements.
There have been a number of articles about how many businesses and sidewalk entrepreneurs are using Barack Obama to sell their products. The New...
Somewhere Over the Jersey Rainbow . . .
No, this is not an opportunity for another New Jersey joke (what exit?!). As a Jersey native, I was thrilled to read this morning that my home state is considering a change to their direct to consumer shipment laws. As some of you reading this blog may be aware, New Jersey is one of the...
Storm Clouds on the Horizon
Any winery owner today should be concerned about the current state of the economy: businesses large and small are failing; credit is drying up and consumers are closing their wallets. As if that were not enough, there may be more storm clouds brewing on the horizon — and recent events in the Empire State of...
One Hand Giveth — The Other Hand Taketh Away
Last week, the Washington Post published an article on the front page of its Metro Section entitled “Grapes of Wealth, Potentially.” The article is well worth the read, but the long and short of it is that the state of Maryland and local governments are doing what they can to help farmers transition from declining...
Big Win in Massachusetts — and Not Just by the Patriots
The folks over at ShipCompliant have a great discussion about a very important (and encouraging) decision out of Massachusetts last week. The court (the District Court for the District of Massachusetts) came down on the side of fair distribution laws for out-of-state wineries. The Court essentially found that Massachusetts was favoring in-state wineries...
I’m Back — And so is Virginia
Hey all. Sorry for dropping off the radar there, but a confluence of events pulled me in several different directions. Needless to say, I am not happy that I was out of the blogging scene for so long, but I promise some new changes that I think you will like.
With that being said,...
