You can read the entire bill and its amendments here on Congress’ official site. (all documents are PDFs). The amendments don’t address alcohol shipments, but they’re interesting to see from a procedural point of view. S.1789 seems to set up USPS alcohol shipments much the same way Maryland now regulates shipments: deliveries must be initiated by a licensed industry entity who work out a contract with the Post Office, and individuals taking deliveries must present photo identification.

Open Congress confirms that the bill has only been introduced; beyond proposed amendments listed on the website above, no legislative action has been taken.

What would happen if we were able to get as strong a voice behind S.1789 as we had behind Maryland’s shipping law? (In fact, if you go to Open Congress’ site above, you can send your legislator a letter for or against the bill.) While Congress is notorious for not getting anything practical done, distributors themselves would be able to ship through USPS, and increasing state approval of wine shipping sets precedents (Massachusetts and New Jersey are considering legislation similar to Maryland’s in 2012). So I’m not sure S.1789 would face the same obstacles that our Maryland law faced.

Where do you stand on this bill?

Richard Gorelick of the Baltimore Sun wrote at the beginning of August about Lot18 starting to ship to Marylanders. Save that link, because the discount website normally only allows membership through invitation, but provided direct registration through Gorelick’s article. The membership is free; I haven’t purchased anything, but the website will tell you if a wine (or cheese, or a wine map, which are also sold) is available to ship to your state. (Lot18 itself is not producing the wine, just arranging with wineries with Maryland permits to ship to you.) Most wines (of the, say, dozen on offer) appear to be from the West Coast or imported. The site is pretty informative, too, with reviews, tasting notes, and winery information. That alone is worth signing up, which is free. The article notes that Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws was involved, but I gather it was more of approaching Lot18 to see f they could offer wines in our state.

The wine shipping box from our trip to Oregon

CellarBlog posted about District365 Wine, which builds on the Lot18 concept by ensuring every wine they offer is available in Virginia, Maryland, and the District. Each week, one wine from one winery is featured. Much like Lot18, the sale is only available for a limited time, so you need to either check in weekly or sign up for email notifications.  They are also planning events and to work with Maryland and Virginia wineries – I’m excited to see what District365 will come up with.

(If you get a postcard from California Wine Club, just toss it in the recycling.)

And of course, wineries themselves are applying for permits, despite the steep fee. Chateau Montelena blogged on CAWineVine that its permit has been approved. I was glad to see some larger names look at shipping. Last July’s trip to Oregon wineries was much more pleasant than other out-of-state trips, now that wine pourers didn’t have to go, “Maryland? No.” MBBWL posts on its own website about how to find out which wineries have permits for Maryland. I counted 306 active permits; some of these are Maryland wineries, and some are shipping companies operating on behalf of the wineries.

And if all that wasn’t making it easy enough, MBBWL tweeted earlier today about a U.S. Postal Service initiative to consider delivering wine and beer in standard USPS vehicles. (Dr. Vino

blogged the New York Times article saying the same thing.) Quite frankly, given the battered-up (and even opened!) state in which my mail has periodically arrived, I wouldn’t trust my Chateau Montelena to the postman.

So have you had wine shipped to you yet? Have you had Maryland wine shipped to out-of-staters? What method did you use?

From the Prince of Petworth blog (aside – PoP is a great resource if you spend any time in/around DC), I recently discovered the series of quick-hit wine videos produced by Ansonia Wines. It looks like the retailer is making a real effort to step up their new media efforts. Although it’s easy to draw a parallel with Gary Vaynerchuck here, the style is quite different while remaining very approachable. The production value is quite good and I’m always interested to learn more about the origins of a particular wine, which seems to be a point of emphasis in their work.

Beyond the videos, PoP mentions they’re integrating QR codes at the point of purchase  - another neat way to connect with the much-coveted “Millenial” wine crowd.

Do video reviews or discussions like this add any value to your wine experience? Do you know of any retailers or wineries in Maryland producing a video series?

I attended this event as a guest of Octavin, who were kind enough to waive my $15 entrance fee. I received no other incentives, financial or otherwise, from any of the companies mentioned herein.

Phew, glad we got that out of the way. As I was saying, the event was held at Lima, but was hosted by a NY-based company called Cork’d (twitter: @corkd), a project led by Gary Vaynerchuck – the wine man who needs no introduction – to introduce and promote wine to the so-called “millenial” generation. This particular event promoted wines bottled – or should I say, packaged? – by yet another company called Octavin.

So what is an Octavin? It’s an elongated box with an octagonal footprint. Yes, that’s right, wine in a box. But it’s not just any wine. In fact, Octavin has sought out a number of talented winemakers, from all around the world, to sell wine in these nifty boxes. The advantages are many: cardboard boxes cost less than glass bottles; boxes don’t break as easily; vacuum-packed bags keep the wine fresh, and for longer after opening, than a cork would; and the box holds a lot more wine per packaging volume, thus reducing the carbon footprint of shipping and manufacturing.

But more importantly, can you have wine in a box that actually tastes good? I’m here to tell you the answer is definitively yes. Don’t let decades of Sutter Home color your perspective on the deliciousness that pours from these Octavin boxes. It’s an uphill battle, but solid experiential marketing events like this and a distinctive look for the packaging should help them get past the ingrained perception about boxed wine. You don’t have to look any further than Maryland’s own Terrapin Station Winery to see that winemakers at the premium end of the market are exploring alternative (and environmentally responsible) packaging options. And it’s affordable, too, running less than $25 per Octavin for equivalent of four wine bottles (3 litres).

The event itself was a blast once I got used to the ambiance (and put away my rave glow sticks). Cork’d wrote up a recap of the event here, so I won’t re-do any of the tasting notes; I will say, though, that my favorites were the crisp and tart Silver Birch Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, and the jammy, fruit-forward Big House Red from California. You wouldn’t go wrong with any of the six but either of these are perfect for a warm summer evening. The Silver Birch was a refreshing end to a hot DC afternoon and a perfect match for the cheese plates.

I had a chance to speak briefly with Georgetta Dane, winemaker from Big House, who flew in to DC that afternoon. She offers both the Octavin and traditional glass bottles for sale in her tasting room, and evidently there’s a pretty good sell-through rate on those Octavins. So go ahead and try some! The Octavin team were good enough to pull together a partial list of stores in Maryland that carry their wines. There are about 200 in all, so they shouldn’t be THAT hard to find if none of these stores suit your fancy.

PDF of Maryland retailers: Octavin Maryland

Overall I give Octavin wines a solid “thumbs up” recommendation for the quality of the wine and the packaging benefits as an added bonus.  But then again, I’m squarely in their target market as a tree-hugging millenial!

Have you noticed any of these wines in your local wine shop? Would you try them from a box? Would you try them with a fox? Would you try them on a boat? Would you…

…my wife is telling me to end the Dr. Seuss reference while I’m ahead, so…

Cheers,

Matt

Writes Jon…

I like Room 11.

High praise, indeed.

The shelf talkers were a nice cool drink of water in the violent wilderness that is wine bottle off-the-shelf marketing. All of the talkers were D’vines branded with their logo. Instead of showing a score that has no context and a review that doesn’t help much, the shelf talkers had four meters on them showing the wine’s body, acidity, sweetness, and intensity. At the bottom there is some food paring advice and a brief note. Here is an example snapped from the worthless camera on my cell phone.

Those of you that are into “fancy” beers, the whole back all is dedicated to craft beers stored in a cooler. You’ll find something you like there.

If you have an adequate wine store nearby, D’vines probably isn’t worth a special trip into the big, bad city. If you’re local, though, the shop is very nice for a neighborhood wine merchant.

D’Vines Wine Shop
3103 14th St NW
Washington, DC
202-234-0044
Open Daily 12-10
http://www.d-vines.com/

At the party, I set out two bottles of cheap German Riesling on the counter. I set out a notebook, a pack of pens and markers, and instructions to drink the wine and write down thoughts. My thinking was that I’d end up with several pages of notes from the party-goers. As the notes wore on, they would be more and more influenced by alcohol and, thus, funny. I’d scan the pages and use that as my WBW post in May.

I set everything out and hoped for the best. Instead of the best, I got two notes. One from me, and one from The Wife. Erf. Back to the WBW drawing board.

Jordan, a scientist at the Food and Drug Administration, rarely spends more than $10 on everyday wine. But this time he decided to splurge. Intrigued to learn more, he logged on to the Wine Spectator Web site. The description matched, but to his surprise, the Chateau Haut-Surget hadn’t received 90 points, but 86, a score given to “very good wine with special qualities,” but not “outstanding” ones.

The author of the article does a general survey and finds 25% of shelf-talkers surveyed were wrong, either showing incorrect vintage, incorrect score, or just showing some made up facts. Some errors are to be expected, merchants have enough to keep up with. But, our old adversary crops up to share in some blame too.

The owner of Silver Spring’s Beer Wine Deli, where Jordan found the inaccurate sign, said the wine’s distributor had posted it.

The distributor was clearly too busy lobbying to keep me from being able to have wine shipped to my home in Maryland. Can’t be bothered to check for accuracy.

Link to article