Tag Archives: low-alcohol wine

This week’s wine news: Texas is one step closer to cocktails-to-go, which would have been unthinkable a year ago. Plus, are supermarkets and wine bars ready to resume consumer wine tastings, and even Grape-Nuts got caught in pandemic supply chain shortfalls

• Yes, in Texas: Texas is one step closer to legalizing cocktails-to-go, which would have been unheard of just a year ago. The state house approved the measure 144-1 last week. But, since this is Texas, there’s still much more legislative to-do to watch. The state senate has not voted the bill out of committee, and that often means it won’t come up for a vote in the full senate. Which, if that happens, means the bill is dead this session. Still, that the bill has come this far — and with the support of legislators usually opposed to liberalizing the state’s restrictive liquor laws — means the bill could pass, even if has to wait for the next session of the Legislature in 2023.

• Resuming wine tastings? Retail wine bars and tastings, which mostly went away during the pandemic, may come back in a big way later this year. That’s what one consultant told the Supermarket News trade magazine. Mark Landini, noting that in-store wine tastings and wine bars have become crucial to many high-end food retailers, says “we’re seeing optimism on the long-term prospects for wine bars and taprooms, including takeout and outdoor settings in addition to the in-store trend.” Retailers like in-store wine service not only as perk for customers, but because those who stay for a glass of wine tend to buy more groceries.

• Yes, even Grape-Nuts: The pandemic’s shock to the supply chain showed up in a variety of ways in the wine business, with some brands missing from store shelves for extended periods of time, as well as a can shortage that left some canned wines in short supply. But why not, if even a staple like Grape-Nuts cereal went missing? The Shelby Report says consumers paid as much as $110 a box for the breakfast staple, as pandemic-related shortages and price gouging sent prices soaring. A company spokeswoman says the company will reimburse consumers who paid more than $10 a box, provided they can provide a receipt. And I thought not being able to buy La Vieille Ferme rose regularly was bad. Perspective is all, yes?

Photo: “Cocktails to go” by Tom Coates is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

This week’s wine news: The liquor industry hopes to continue to ease three-tier in the wake of the pandemic, plus why Millennials don’t drink more wine and a Pythonesque French wine lawsuit

• After the pandemic: How much liquor law change came during the pandemic? The Hill, which covers the Congress and government, reports that 33 states and the District of Columbia now allow to-go sales of alcoholic beverages at restaurants and bars. Before the pandemic, no state allowed to-go sales. And some of you doubted three-tier was easing up. In fact, says The Hill, the pandemic “did more to liberalize alcohol regulations than anything since the end of Prohibition.” The piece is worth reading, especially for its almost shocking disbelief in how alcohol is regulated in the U.S. It’s worth noting that The Hill’s readers are congressional staffers who may not know or understand three-tier, and will likely be stunned to find out buying wine isn’t like buying a computer on Amazon.

• Health and younger consumers: There’s a lot of jargon in this article from the Wine Intelligence consultancy, but wade through it and you’ll discover that younger consumers are interested in lower- and no-alcohol wines because they want to be socially responsible and because they don’t want extra calories. Which leads the Wine Curmudgeon to wonder: How many younger consumers know that a glass of wine has just 125 calories, about the same as a bottle of light beer? Oh, that’s right — they can’t know. Wine doesn’t have ingredient and nutritional labeling the way beer does.

• French wine lawsuit: The French rate wine quality in many regions through an agency called the National Institute for Origin and Quality, which administers the various grand cru and premier grand cru designations. In St. Emilion in Bordeaux, lawsuits by disgruntled wineries unhappy about how they were ranked have increased so sharply that the application fee to be ranked has risen 10-fold since 2006. That’s because the application fees need to cover the cost of defending lawsuits. So more lawsuits, higher fees. Which, no doubt, adds to the number of lawsuits (“I’m not paying that much money not to be ranked!”), which leads to higher fees.