Love Washington Wine is back online after a few weeks off during January. Due to an increase in our sales volume and to the fact Love Washington Wine became a licensed retailer we needed to move to a new facility and obtain a license from the Washington State Liquor Control Board. We successfully accomplished both and are back online rebuilding our inventory and adding some news wines over the next couple of weeks.
Why did we become a retailer?
Our customers wanted a larger and more diverse selection of wines, becoming a retailer allowed us access to more wines within the three tiered system in Washington State. The licensing complexity of our old business model required in order to comply with state and federal rules became a limiting factor in obtaining wines for sale.
We decided to become a retailer just in the nick of time! The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned 8 of the 9 rulings in the Costco case keeping most of the three tiered system in tact in a ruling just last week. However, wine lovers do not despair, at the same time states are starting to open up to out of state retailers such as Love Washington Wine. We are applying to several states to ship directly to consumers and will activate them on the site as soon as we receive permission to do so.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Love Washington Wine Evolution
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Dear President, what states will you be able to ship to? And do you really think that you can compete with California wines? Why don't you offer more wine clubs?
Miles,
Sorry for the delay in responding to your post I need to check in more frequently! I have some answers for you:
Dear President, what states will you be able to ship to?
We currently are able to ship to WA, IL and TX. A new Illinois law takes effect I July that prohibits retailers from shipping to that state so we will not be able to ship after 1 July. We have applications in for the following states in addition to IL, WA and TX:
ND, WY, NE, NV, AK (where legal), LA, WV, VA, NH
I will post new states as they come online and are available.
And do you really think that you can compete with California wines?
Washington Wines competes very well with California wines and amongst the best in the New World. With longer hours of sun up north, sandy soils (no phylloxera) with limited water (6 – 8 inches in the Columbia Valley) yet the ability to precisely irrigate Washington State has the ideal climate for wine. It still gets really cold here in the winters where only the strong vines survive. To best answer your questions regarding Washington Wines, check out this video from our good friend Mike Scott he says it best at: https://www.lovewashingtonwine.com/Video/WineryVideos/MartinScott/LWW-MartinScottVideo.aspx . Try his Raven’s Ridge Red (we are working on getting some more here on the site we sold he completely out over X-mas). Viticulture is continually improving. Once known mostly for Merlot Washington winemakers are producing deeply complex Cabs and Bordeaux style blends. Most importantly start trying it. Let me know if you need some assistance I will have Brian or one of our winemakers contact you and find what you like and get you our best. Email me at mark.bolz@lovewashingtonwine.com and I will take care of you.
Why don't you offer more wine clubs?
This is a question we get asked a lot! In March we are launching four new wine clubs hand selected by Brian. There will be more to follow. We are working with some experts here in Washington to create clubs that are the best of the best. Some of these experts will be creating their own clubs on the site. Shoot me a note I will get back to you and thanks for your post!
Post a Comment