1. Paso Robles, CA: Wineries in the Paso Robles area are invited to attend “Simplify Your Compliance”, a regional workshop held on Nov. 12 to address legal issues related to compliance with tips, tricks and best practices for an efficient compliance program.  Demonstrations of the latest technology used to manage direct shipping compliance and shipping will be included.
2. Napa, CA: Last day to register-today. On Monday, November 16, Napa Valley Vintners and the Wine Institute will co-host a member-only Direct Shipping Workshop in Napa, California. This special “boot camp” will include an update of rules, regulations, required paperwork, costs and pointers on how to ship wine directly throughout the United States. To register, contact Patsy McGaughy.
3. Everywhere, USA: ShipCompliant’s annual Direct Shipping Virtual Seminar—held on Tuesday, Dec. 1—is free to attend. Winery owners, tasting room managers, compliance professionals and others involved in direct shipping can log in from the convenience of their desk to hear the Wine Institute and ShipCompliant provide an overview of the latest direct shipping regulations and technology.

“Wine businesses across the board are being pushed to new limits in the current environment,” said Rob McMillan, founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s Wine Division and author of the report.

Rob McMillan will reveal strategic and tactical recommendations to wine businesses as they adapt to current and anticipated market conditions and other insider information based on his expert research and surveys of nearly 500 wineries that may help you plan for your future at ShipCompliant’s 4th annual Direct Shipping Seminar & Users Conference. The conference will take place on June 11, 2009, at the Napa Valley Marriott.

Other conference speakers include W. Curtis Coleburn, Chief Operating Officer of the Virginia ABC, and Steve Gross, Director of State Relations at the Wine Institute.

Participating companies include: Wine Business Monthly, FedEx, Wines & Vines, Copper Peak Logistics, Bacchus Fulfillment, WTN Services, Pack n’ Ship Direct, Wineshipping, Benson Marketing, Microworks, Cultivate Systems, Active Club Management, WineWeb Enterprises, eWinery Solutions, Elypsis, WineWare Software, Missing Link/eCellar, VinNOW and EVT Solutions.

Register online today to confirm your spot.

You will not want to miss a state-by-state review of legislative updates from Steve Gross, the Wine Institute’s Director of State Relations during ShipCompliant’s 4th annual Direct Shipping Seminar and Users Conference. The event will take place on Thursday, June 11 at the Napa Valley Marriott.

Hear from Steve Gross and other distinguished speakers as they address important direct shipping updates including a state-by-state review, wine-industry market analysis and strategic direct-to-consumer marketing. Confirmed speakers include:

• W. Curtis Coleburn, COO, Virginia ABC
• Steve Gross, Director of State Relations, Wine Institute
• Q&A session with Jeff Carroll, VP Compliance, ShipCompliant
• Additional speakers to be announced soon…

This conference sells out quickly so register online today to guarantee your spot, or sign up to receive email alerts on other upcoming events.

October 16th Online Direct Shipping Seminar

The winery focused seminar presented along with Wine Institute, FedEx and Wine Business Monthly, will feature Steve Gross, Director of State Relations at Wine Institute, with a state-by-state legislative update.  Special guest Tom Ourada, Tax Revenue Specialist with Wisconsin DOR, will provide insight on Wisconsin’s new direct shipping legislation.  These informative presentations will be complemented by shipping compliance tools and workflows from ShipCompliant and FedEx.

The retailer focused seminar presented along with Specialty Wine Retailers Association (SWRA) and Wine Business Monthly, will feature Tom Wark, Executive Director of SWRA, with a state-by-state update from the retailer perspective along with best practices and a product demo from ShipCompliant.

Both events are run in a ‘virtual’ online format where you hear the speakers by calling into a conference phone line and see their presentations by logging into a coordinating web conference.

Don’t miss this opportunity to get time-critical updates without the cost of attending an event in person.

Genesen’s speech analogized her role in the industry to a “court of last resort” when legislative means are unsuccessful in remedying protectionist state laws that have remained in effect despite the Granholm ruling in 2005. Granholm resolved many instances of differential treatment by the states and was extended to apply to self-distribution in the Costco ruling. However, Genesen revealed that the post-Granholm time of prosperity has given way to another host of problems. For example, states like Maine and Arkansas, in which direct shipping markets do not exist, have level playing fields; however, treating everyone the same by not allowing anyone to ship is a detriment to the wine industry. In addition, courts are struggling to deal with retail-to-consumer shipping laws in many states. Challenges to these laws have produced interesting results, like the “funky remedy” by a district court judge in a Texas lawsuit which declared that Granholm applied to retailers, but that retailers must first buy wine through Texas-licensed wholesalers. Wholesalers have also maintained their grip on states like Massachusetts by crafting legislation that is beneficial to them but also facially neutral. The 30,000 gallon capacity cap in Massachusetts exemplifies such economic protectionism and is the contention in the Family Winemakers of California case. Oral arguments in the case took place on July 29^th in Boston and the decision is expected sometime this fall.

Many thanks to Tracy Genesen for sharing her insights into the current legal atmosphere of the industry. To view Genesen’s speech in its entirety or that of any of the other speakers at the conference, please see the 2008 Users Conference Simulcast. More information on the cases in Massachusetts and Texas is also available on the ShipCompliant Blog.

The turnout from the wine industry is equally impressive. We’ve run into a number of friends and partners in the industry from across the country today.

John J. Manfreda, Administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), gave an excellent keynote address this morning, stressing an open dialog between the TTB and key industry stakeholders. They seem genuinely committed to listening to the industry to improve the ease of compliance with TTB regulations. If you have any questions or topics that you would like to get answers to while we are here, please feel free to leave a comment on this post or to drop us a private email at blog (at) shipcompliant (dot) com.

As we mentioned in a previous post, House Bill 1061 had passed in the House and has since passed in the Senate. It made its way onto the Governor’s table on April 15th, and Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed it into law yesterday. The long-awaited bill amends Code Sections 3-6-31 and 3-6-20, a source of problems for many wineries. Before the bill passed, Georgia’s direct shipping laws were very restrictive, only allowing direct shipment by wineries without a distributor relationship in Georgia and by all wineries for onsite purchases. Onsite shipments were limited to five cases per consumer or per household.

However, the passage of the bill effected many favorable changes to Georgia’s direct shipment law. The statutory amendments eliminate the problematic provision which prohibited wineries from shipping offsite orders to Georgia residents if the wineries were represented by a distributor in Georgia. This significantly opens up the state to both in- and out-of-state wineries that were not previously permitted to ship offsite sales directly to consumers.

Furthermore, the amendments added a definition of “winery” to the statute, defining it as “any maker or producer of wine whether in this state or in any other state, who holds a valid federal basic wine manufacturing permit.” (Section 3-6-31(a)).

Another noteworthy change is the addition of the age verification requirement found in Section 3-6-20(d)(4):

“Before accepting an order from a consumer in this state, the holder of a special order shipping license shall require that the person placing the order state affirmatively that he or she is of the age required by Code Section 3-3-23 and shall verify the age of such person placing the order either by the physical examination of an approved government issued form of identification or by utilizing an Internet based age and identification service;”

The new age verification requirement strengthens the affirmative statement of age provision (as was required prior to the amendments), working to assuage the fears of those who believe direct shipping creates an unreasonable risk of online ordering by underage individuals.

The bill also introduces a few minor changes. A winery no longer has to post a bond, designate sales territories, or name a wholesaler in each territory (thereby taking a conflicting law off the books). Wineries are also prohibited from shipping to licensed premises and are required pay excise taxes and state and local sales taxes from every sale shipped to a consumer in Georgia. In addition, of-age individuals can now purchase up to 12 cases of wine from each licensee per year (up from 5 cases per household pre-HB 1061).

Overall, although wineries must still obtain a special order shipping license and brands must still be registered in order to ship into the state, HB 1061 is going to live up to expectations and prove itself a valuable step for proponents of direct shipping. More wineries can now direct ship to Georgia and reach more consumers, benefiting both Georgians and non-Georgians alike.

The bill takes effect July 1st, 2008. Stay tuned for more details and permit requirements.