A new BC cabinet was announced this morning (Oct. 25th) and the new minister of agriculture is Ben Stewart, of the Stewart family that owns Quail\’s Gate Winery.
Month: October 2010
News from both Canada and the USA that may affect the BC wine industry eventually …
Agents Upset Over SAQ as Potential Competitor. The Edmonton Journal has an interesting article describing the efforts of the Quebec liquor board (SAQ) to set up shop in Alberta as a competitor to existing agents. Predictably, the agents that are now operating in that province are not happy over plans for a provincial alcohol monopoly to venture outside its borders and to compete with private businesses in other provinces. More profoundly, this raises questions as to the proper scope of a liquor monopoly\’s operations and, particularly, whether it is right for a liquor monopoly from a non-privatized province to wield its monopoly purchasing power in another province which has privatized.
HR5034 – Wholesalers Get Rough Ride at Congressional Hearings. The wholesaler and distributor industry groups which are attempting to roll back progress on direct to consumer shipping in the U.S. by virtue of congressional bill HR5034 got a rough ride at recent hearings in Washington, DC. This story from Wine Business describes the presentations. In related news, a consumer group has now also formed in order to advance the interests of wine consumers at the state and federal levels: American Wine Consumer Coalition.
Here\’s a great article outlining the history of the Washington state wine industry and how that state has dealt with and is still dealing with the post-prohibition regulatory environment: This Changes Everything? The Washington Costco Initiative. Anyone interested in the future of the BC wine industry should read this article. We are only just starting to deal with the issues that are covered here and, in my view, the history in WA will provide valuable indicators of what will eventually happen here. The BC wine industry cannot exist in perpetual isolation from the world market. Sooner or later, we will join the rest of the globe … better to be ready! UPDATE: this article has now been expanded into a three part series … all the parts are excellent and particularly worthwhile is the discussion related to the effects of privatization on a small winery\’s business.