By Cary M. Greene Last week, the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association (“WSWA”) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (“NBWA”) published a pair of opinion pieces in The Hill, http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/161887-the-right-approach-to-alcohol-policy, and Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-johnson/nobodys-coming-to-stop-yo_b_861575.html. In defending the indefensible H.R. 1161, the associations accused the “opposition,” which includes WineAmerica, of being composed of: …a syndicate of … Read more

By Michael Kaiser Last week WineAmerica and the Winegrape Growers of America (WGA) held the annual Wine and Grape Policy Conference at the Phoenix Park Hotel here in Washington, DC. The annual conference allows the Board of Directors for both organizations a chance to meet, as well as for joint policy meetings. This year we … Read more

On Friday, April 29, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) issued a clarification on their February 2, 2011 notice suspending “expedite requests” and informal review of alcohol beverage labels. As members of the industry are well aware, the processing time for Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) submissions has been drastically increased in … Read more

Cary Greene has written a blog post for the great new CARE Act blog that our friends from ShipCompliant have put together. The ShipCompliant CARE Act blog is a great resource to get all the different perspectives on H.R. 1161. What Scholars Have to Say About the CARE Bill

By Michael Kaiser Last week I had the pleasure of attending License to Steal, the National Wine Marketing Conference. The conference was held at the Lodge and Conference Center in Geneva State Park in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio. Located right on the shores of Lake Erie, Geneva is home to many wineries in OH. The Grand River … Read more