Winebits 788: Blood alcohol, trading down, wine thefts

This week’s wine news: Washington state wants to criminalize wine with dinner, plus restaurant diners are trading down and wine thieves strike again

• Two glasses is too many: The Washington state legislation will consider a bill to cut the state’s legal blood alcohol limit from .08 to .05. The change, following a similar bill in Utah, pretty much makes anyone who drinks a couple of glasses of wine with dinner legally drunk. The bill will also cut limits for marijuana and other drugs. We’ve discussed this subject on the blog many times before, and there is no easy way to parse the argument. Yes, we want to cut drunk driving deaths. But will cutting the limit do it? The results from Utah are inconclusive. And do we want to criminalize what is otherwise legal behavior? Reporter Renee Diaz does a fine job of outlining just that conundrum.

• Cheaper restaurants: Consumers are opting for less expensive restaurants, says a new report, and that’s not good news for the wine business. Consumers “have begun trading down, nonetheless – illustrating they have some simmering anxiety about what is happening or what’s to come. At least, that’s the gist from the first two weeks of public restaurant earnings calls – a solid indicator of consumer confidence given the industry’s ubiquity and discretionary position.” The downside is twofold for wine: first, even though we’re still eating out, we’ve switched to less expensive restaurants and which don’t necessarily serve wine; and second, that if we’re not eating at wine restaurants, how will that sector recover from the pandemic?

• More wine thefts: The Wine Spectator notes that wine thieves have been busy in Europe over the past several months, hitting cellars of wine-focused restaurants in Norway and Spain, as well as at retailer-grower in Austria. The magazine says there is no evidence the crimes are related, but that the thieves knew what they wanted. The stolen wines included some of the greatest names in the business, such as Harlan, Haut-Brion, Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, Mouton-Rothschild, Pétrus, Pingus, Sine Qua Non, Solaia and Yquem. All told, the value could have exceeded a quarter of a million dollars.