The Ship[ping] Hits The Fans Of Wine In Georgia

Governor Sonny Purdue surprised local wine industry insiders and political experts last week by signing into law a bill that allows Georgia residents to pick up a receiver or point a mouse to buy their wine over the phone or internet.

Wine lovers here, for the most part, could only buy their wines at a winery or in a retail shop prior to the new law. Shipments to their front door were off-limits, leaving hard-to-find bottles and wines not represented by local distributors out of reach. Starting July 1, Georgia residents can have any winery ship to them up to 12 cases a year as long as someone 21 or older is able to sign for the shipment.

There are a number of players in the internet wine sales game. Let’s see who will be celebrating the most now that shipping restrictions have been relaxed. Presumably, unless he has more surprises up his sleeve, Gov. Purdue will not be lifting a toast—at least not with any alcoholic beverages—as he is a dyed-in-the-wool teetotaler and has historically opposed loosening any restrictions on alcohol production or sales.

GEORGIA WINEMAKERS. The biggest winner, hands down, will be our state’s stalwart winemakers. It’s no fun making wine and not having many people to share it with. Under the old law, customers would have to go to the winery in most cases to get a bottle of Georgia wine. Now, wineries can legally ship their wines to the doorstep of their customers.

“Of course, we are very happy,” said Steve Gibson, general manager for Habersham Vineyards and Winery in Helen. “We’ve been trying for three years to ship to our Georgia customers. Now, we’ll finally have that chance.” Gibson is also president of the Winegrowers Association of Georgia.

Gibson, who runs one of the state’s largest and most established wineries, won’t be the biggest beneficiary of the new law. Habersham, which sells 15,000 cases a year and produces 20 different wines under two labels, is represented by a statewide distributor and can be found in many Georgia wine shops and restaurants.

“[The law] is going to mean more to the small, upstart wineries out there,” Gibson said. “It gives a small, boutique winery a chance to gain a following and do things like start a wine club.”

Georgia currently has 23 bonded wineries. Gibson expects that number to grow substantially. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see 50 Georgia wineries open within five years,” he said.

“This is an important step to increasing our national presence,” says Brent Beecham, director of operations and finance at M Vineyards at Montaluce in Dahlonega, one of Georgia’s newest wineries. “Georgia produces quality wine, but unless you go to the winery, you just about cannot find it. If someone from [Georgia] came through and discovered us, we could not easily sell them additional wine. Now we will be able to ship from online orders.”

Beecham was already crafting plans to market M Vineyards wines via the internet the day following the governor’s signing. “We already have a good internet presence for our [real estate] development and restaurant. We will need to really dedicate time to our winery’s web presence to take full advantage of the new law.”

GEORGIA WINE CONSUMERS. On the face of it, Bill 1061 benefits only a few consumers obsessed with getting their hands on the latest California cult wine or a limited-release Oregon pinot noir available only through the winery. However, regular, more pedestrian wine lovers—or even non-wine drinkers—have the opportunity to try wines they hear are good, but are frequently frustrated trying to find them.

“This gives [Georgia wine consumers] the opportunity to get access to hard to find wines—wines we can’t even get,” said Fred Kitchens, executive director of Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Georgia, the trade group that represents distributors in the state. Kitchens’ group did not oppose the bill.

An ecstatic Mary Ann Hardman, co-owner of Persimmon Creek Vineyards could barely contain her enthusiasm upon hearing the news. Hardman and her husband, Sonny, own 110 acres in Rabun County and produce 2,000 cases a year, a number she predicts will increase soon now that she has better access to consumers.

“It opens and widens the door for more people across our state to enjoy homegrown wine, wines with a taste of a place—Georgia. Many people are curious about local wines, but finding them on retail shelves can be problematic. We as an industry will be able to better service our customers.”

WINE SHOPS. Many say wine shops will take the biggest hit when customers can go direct to the source for wine. But as long as there are thousands of wine regions and tens of thousands of winemakers around the world, consumers need a guide to navigate the confusing wine jungle.

“By having a wine merchant that you can trust and have a relationship with, the consumer will learn more and enjoy wine in a way that you can never get by ordering from a winery,” said Doug Bryant, owner of Sherlock’s Wine Merchant, which has five retail locations in the Atlanta metro area. “This new law will not eliminate the need for a wine merchant in any way.”

In fact, Bryant sees an opportunity in this change. Wine retailers now more than ever can demonstrate their relevance by ensuring their aisles are stocked with knowledgeable associates to assist a growing number of wine consumers out there.

DISTRIBUTORS. Many distributors have fought any bill that allows consumers to get wine from the winery. Like retailers, many see this law as a threat to their business. A representative of one of Atlanta’s most respected distributors, who prefers to remain anonymous, strongly disagrees believing that a rising tide raises all ships. Distributors may lose a sale here and there to the winery, but as more people start calling themselves wine drinkers, they will ultimately be buying more wines in shops and in restaurants.

“I don’t think [the new law] is a threat to the wholesaler or the retailer,” says Habersham’s Gibson. “They can offer the wines a lot cheaper than when a customer has to order from us and pay for the shipping and packing charges….We actually set our prices higher so we are not in competition with the retailers.”

Gibson envisions a situation where Georgia consumers discover a new wine and lobby their wine shops to get that wine in the store. Wholesale sales would increase. And again, much like retailers, if distributors can offer restaurant accounts assistance with wine list strategies, staff education and wine dinner promotions, they will illustrate just how relevant and needed they are in a world with internet wine sales.

Hardman tried to put the shipping law into historical perspective. “I think Thomas Jefferson would be quite thrilled with the passage of this law, as he had wines from Château Rausan-Segla and Château d'Yquem shipped directly to him as president and then in his retirement at Monticello. He even had a muscadine from North Carolina shipped directly to his Palladian framed doorstep.”

New wineries, such as M Vineyards at Monteluce pictured above, will be the biggest winner now that Georgia consumers can order wines directly from their source.

First Taste, Then Criticize, Not Vice Versa

A long time ago at a wine magazine far, far away, I made fun of a wine with a goofy label in the presence of a gentleman named Bernard Martinage. I implied, more or less, that a wine with a label depicting a duck smoking a cigar could never be any good. He in turn made fun of me for assuming anything about a wine before tasting it.

Martinage was my dining room instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, where he taught me many things. So, it was not out of his range to take me down a notch and teach me a thing or two post-graduation. The wine was Smoking Loon Merlot and it tasted better than its $10 or $12 price tag; its silly label certainly belied the quality of the juice within.

Since then, Smoking Loon and its sister label, Pepperwood Grove, fueled the success of Don Sebastiani and his two winemaking/marketing sons Donny and August. With its myriad of uniquely named and labeled wines, Don Sebasitani & Sons ranks as the second biggest grape buyer in California and produces more than two million cases of wine annually. Smoking Loon surpassed the 1 million-case mark by itself in 2007.

While enjoying the spoils of these well-received, mass-market wines, the company in recent years has put a lot of energy into its higher end wines from specific regions, such as Mia’s Playground Pinot Noir from the cool, foggy and rocky slopes of the Russian River Valley. At 2,700 cases produced, it is not nearly as easy to find as the Loon line and it costs more than twice as much. But as is his habit, winemaker Richard Bruno (the true unsung hero of the Sebastiani story) produces wines of amazing value. So, Mia’s Playground may cost $24, but it drinks like 36 ducks…er…I mean bucks.