Home
|
Subscription
RSS
Contact
Newsletter
Search
German| Date: 2004-06-24 11:00:28 |
| From: David Williams |
Subject: RE: New feature at Wein-Plus.com |
| So far as I understand it the problem is primarily related to interstate sales as I said. The cases I referred to originated from two family winemakers, Juanita Swedenburg in Virginia and David Lucas in California. As you know you must have an alcolholic licence to sell wine in the US whether you are a wholesaler or retailer. But a winery cannot ship directly to a consumer living in another state (which does not have any restrictions )to one that does. This would also explain what I commented or that private buyers can't buy directly from European sources. I've been told about export orders being returned from German suppliers. If the Supreme Court hands a ruling down freeing inter-state direct sales it will give Americans a lot more freedom. (Hence the cartel of wine importers are against it - wine is more expensive in the US than it needs to be. You would be horrified, no doubt, by the price charged in restaurants for the wine which you sold them. The same is true in Britain, by the way - how would you like to pay 30-35 euros for a "Liebfraumilch" which the restaurant would have bought for say 5 - 7 euros?). Whether this would give Americans the freedom order wine from the internet and import it is, I imagine more unlikely. It would be helpful if any US residents or readers would add to this information. In the meantime Prohibition seems alive and well, albeit in a different guise! Sincerely, David Williams -----Original Message----- From: wineforum_owner@apris.de [mailto:wineforum_owner@apris.de]On Behalf Of T-online Sent: 23 June 2004 22:56 To: wineforum@wein-plus.com Subject: [wineforum] Re: New feature at Wein-Plus.com I just received this e-mail and I have a question regarding the nature of the purchase, do you mean buy wines direct from the wineries in Europe by a person in the US? I work as a broker representing German Wineries mostly in the US, so I sell wines to whosalers that also have an import license, in turn, these whosalers sell the wines to stores and restaurants. All the best, Savio Santana Soares Wine Selections Krefeld-DE ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Williams" <boscastle@t-online.de> To: <wineforum@wein-plus.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 8:59 PM Subject: [wineforum] RE: New feature at Wein-Plus.com > You are right in saying it is complicated to buy European wines in the SA - > in fact as far as I know it is only possible for consumers to buy through a > licenced importer who has a licence to sell alcohol. However there is > another major problem - (illustrated by your example "Where can I buy wines > from winery X in state Y") - which is that 26 states PROHIBIT INTER-STATE > SALES. For example it is legal for residents of New England to buy from > other states but not residents in New York. The US Supreme Court will now > heard 3 cases which, it is claimed, involve constitutional law since > although the 21st Amendment ended Prohibition in 1933 it gave individual > states the right to regulate alcohol. It seems these cases will rest on the > power of Congress to also regulate commerce between the states. Alcohol > wholesalers want the law to stay as it is; on the other hand winemakers want > to see a change so that they can sell their products over the internet. > > The 25 states which do allow inter-state trading would still have individual > regulations concerning tax. That is still likely to make it difficult for > any European winery, Weingärtnergenossenschaft etc. to supply wine directly > to customers in the US - it may just become difficult instead of impossible! > I mention that because, as you know, tax like MWSt is deducted for US > customers but taxes (Sales taxes) are not uniform from one state to another. > I am not quite sure (since I am British and not American) how importers of > European wine in the US deal with this problem. I can only tell you that my > local Weingärtnergenossenschaft won't send anything to America as they had 3 > different orders returned by US (State) Customs for which they had to pay > return transport costs. > > I am trying to find out more from the Institue for Justice which is, I > understand, bringing the legal action. It is expected the case will be > heard at the end of the year and a ruling handed down in about June 2005. > In the meantime it would be helpful if any US readers can add to this > information. > > David Williams > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: wineforum_owner@apris.de [mailto:wineforum_owner@apris.de]On > Behalf Of Martin H. Geiger > Sent: 22 June 2004 16:36 > To: wineforum@wein-plus.com > Subject: [wineforum] New feature at Wein-Plus.com > > > Hi, > > animated by the discussion in this mailing list, Utz decided to implement a > new feature to www.wein-plus.com. > > We learned, that it seems to be rather complicated to buy european wines in > the USA. As we understood, are the reasons for this to see on the one side > in the legal environment, and on the other side in the seperation to > importes and retailers. > > Many questions in the last weeks focused something like "Where can I buy > wines form winery x in state y". > > In our german-language website www.wein-plus.de we have a very powerfull > feature named "Weinlotse". > This is a sorted list of wine-realted websites. Wineries, importes and > retailers are listed here. > We now offer the same service at our english-languaged plattform. > Of course, actually there is very small content. So we ask you for two > things: > - If you are an importer or a retailer of european wines, please enter your > data to this tool. > - If you know such companies, please let us know. > > Of course we will ask the german winemakers for their business partners in > the USA. > > It would be great to implement a mostly complete overview to the wine > bargain in the USA. > > Of course, we are at your disposal for further information. > > Best regards > > Martin H. Geiger > > www.wein-plus.de > www.wein-plus.com > Martin H. Geiger > - Werbung und Kooperationen - > Heusteg 47 > 91056 Erlangen > Tel +49 9131 75 50 14 > Fax +49 9131 75 50 50 > Mail: geiger@wein-plus.de |
|
 |
|
|