California ABC on the warpath about third party marketing...

WINE TALK
1

If you make, buy or sell wine you should read this:

http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=news&content=65546&htitle=California%20Warns%20Internet%20Wine%20Sellers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2

#ifdef GRAMMAR_WEENIE
Argh! “A myriad of” - I hate that! Myriad means ‘countless’ and you wouldn’t say ‘a countless of’.
#endif

3

Interesting, sounds like winebid, vinfolio, benchmark and premier cru’s businesses just got a bit better. Who else is left in the game as a result of this?

Related to this: what if wine is donated to a non-profit charity, and the charity sells it in a private auction. They still need something from the ABC for this don’t they. I’m betting most don’t, and I’ve wondered about donating to situations like this.

BTW, myriad can be used as a noun or an adjective…according to wikipedia, its usage as a noun (myriad of) is older than as an adjective

4

I guess the big boys are feeling the pinch with the economy and made some calls up to Sacramento to call in their “contributions”? [dash1.gif]

5

OR, the folks at the ABC started smelling big money in fines if they looked into all the folks doing not just this but selling wine gift baskets, caterers who charge for wine and are not licensed, ect. State needs every dollar.

6

Next you’ll be telling us that wikipedia says “irregardless” is a real word. [berserker.gif] Don’t forget, it’s run by the inmates. [cheers.gif]

I thought, in the case of New Vine, that one of the selling points as a fulfillment operator was in fact that they DID have permits in every state they serviced???

7

Reading this from my blackberry, but what affect do you all think this has on this site? Could WB be construed as a marketer for those of us that want to sell killer berserker deals?

I know that craigslist wont let people post alcohol posts or people selling wine. Thoughts?

8

I have no problem the ABC trying to ensure that we’re all playing by the same requirements. Making sure that wine clubs, and businesses like Wine Woot and Wines Til Sold Out (just examples – they may be licensed or out-of-state) are licensed is a good thing.

I’d never thought of the charitable event issue that Eric brought up. Hmmm…

9

I hope MA doesn’t look at CA too closely. The assessment given at the end of the article about it being too much work for too little pay-off for a DA is sound. Unless there is a way to tax this revenue it won’t be worth going after.

For the grammar geeks, join the “I judge you when you use poor grammar” page on Facebook.
From Merriam-Webster:

Myriad
Pronunciation:
\ˈmir-ē-əd
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Greek myriad-, myrias, from myrioi countless, ten thousand
Date:
1555

1 : ten thousand
2 : a great number
usage: Recent criticism of the use of myriad as a noun, both in the plural form myriads and in the phrase a myriad of, seems to reflect a mistaken belief that the word was originally and is still properly only an adjective. As the entries here show, however, the noun is in fact the older form, dating to the 16th century. The noun myriad has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural myriads) and Thoreau (a myriad of), and it continues to occur frequently in reputable English. There is no reason to avoid it.

10

A myriad of CA bureaucracies have really stepped it up lately. A friend, who has to deal with a bunch of them, opined it has to to with impending budget cuts. Some of the same agencies, who before have told him not to even bother to get a permit - because it’s too much work for them, and no one checks anyway - are now actively creating new hoops to jump through. This is the nature of bureaucracies - they are in panic mode to preserve their jobs by looking busy.

The ABC has taken on a crusade to shut down San Francisco’s long standing music venues. (Great American Music Hall, Slims, The Bottom of the Hill, etc.) Well run, no violations, no complaints. The BotH even won an appeal in the ABC’s own appellate system, and the agents haven’t backed off one iota.