NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WINE RETAILERS

The wine retail sector's most pressing systemic detriment to success remains its lack of access to the national marketplace via legal direct shipment to consumers. Retailers may only legally ship to 13 states. Many states violate the constitution by allowing their own retailers to ship in-state but bar out-of-state retailers from doing the same. States are leaving millions of dollars in tax revenue on the table while at the same time prohibiting consumers from accessing the vast majority of wines in the American marketplace. Fixing this problem would unleash the American wine retail sector from the regulatory straightjacket their lawmakers and protectionist colleagues continue to support. #change #alcohol #DtC #wine #wineretail #spirits #liquor #beer #reformalcoholregulation

Registration is open now

America just marked the 91st Anniversary of Repeal of Prohibition—an institution that was meant to address alcohol problems associated with the earliest part of the 20th century. All these years later, America's alcohol regulations remain a reaction to the same problems that Prohibition was meant to address. Yet we live in an era when the economy, society, culture, and technology bear no resemblance to this long-gone period. It's time for reform. NAWR Supports a regulatory system that acknowledges the conditions and issues affecting the present, not the past.

It's where the best wine merchants, wine minds, and wine experts got to gather and dive deep into the issues, challenges, and opportunities driving the wine retail tier. Space will fill up fast.

REGISTRATION FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT WINE RETAILER CONFERENCE OF THE YEAR IS NOW OPEN: https://lnkd.in/gQEVb4cb The 2025 NAWR Wine Retailer Summit brings together the best wine merchants in America, publishers, legal experts, compliance and tax professionals, and numerous other figures in the wine retailer industry to discuss the most important issue confronting the wine retail industry: Wine Shipping Laws • Legal Controversies • Access to Consumers • Technology Tools • Retailer Marketing • Tariffs and Barriers to Trade • Wine Retail and the Media. Space is limited to ensure an intimate atmosphere in which attendees can easily network and discuss the issues in depth. Non-NAWR members are welcome and may obtain complimentary entrance to the Summit when they join NAWR at the Associate level. Register for the Summit and get more information here: https://lnkd.in/gQEVb4cb #wine #retail #wineindustry #wineretail #conference #wineevent #networking #wineshipping #winelaw #alcohol #compliance #tariffs

Wine Retailer Direct shipping, robust online presence, and direct-from-producer inventory purchasing is what will put wine retailers in a position to succeed in the 21st century wine marketplace.

Retailers are banned from shipping interstate....Wholesaler Consolidation keeps thousands of wines out of markets...Franchise Laws make hiring a wholesaler a crap shoot...Out-of-state producers are banned from selling directly to a state's retailers...REFORM OF THE ALCOHOL BEVERAGE REGULATORY STRUCTURE IS NECESSARY. Here's How: https://lnkd.in/gDaQ5TuS

It remains illegal in 37 states for consumers to receive wine shipments from out-of-state wine retailers. This is due to the continued devotion to a three-tier system that can't satisfy consumer demand. In 2024, having wine shipped to you in most states is illegal. #StopTheRentseeking #wine #retail.

This post by Steven Harrison is highly recommended. It points to one of the two most important elements of the alcohol beverage regulatory system that is in desperate need of reform: RETAILERS MUST BE ABLE TO PURCHASE DIRECTLY FROM SUPPLIERS.

This article is an excellent primer on why the three-tier system and the states mandates that wholesalers act as middle man can't work for any but the largest brands and the largest wholesalers, leading us to conclude that the future health of the American wine industry depends on the dismantling of the three-tier system as it stands today.