Winebits 804: Jack Daniels, Constellation, wine samples

This week’s wine news: The Supreme Court says no to wine parodies, plus a look at how wine giant Constellation Brands screwed up beer and the end of wine samples

• No more parodies? The Supreme Court ruled against the Jack Daniels dog toy, putting the future of any kind of commercial parody in doubt. This is one more indication that the rights of Big Business – the “intellectual property” scam – trump the rights of those of us who don’t have high-priced lawyers to defend our right to fair comment. I’ve written about the case many times; what you need to know now is that the court ruled 9-0 that a law written to protect corporations’ trademarks is not unconstitutional, and that a lower court erred when it said the toy was covered by the First Amendment’s free speech protections. One tiny consolation: The toy can still be sold, and Jack Daniels must refile its suit. Expect a settlement, since the toy company can hardly afford to fight this whole thing again.

• What a mess: VinePair’s Dave Infante recounts the sad, pathetic story of Big Wine’s Constellation Brands and its foray into craft beer. Its losses? Perhaps in the hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars: “Of all the Big Beer buyers that overspent their way into the American craft brewing industry last decade, none has underdelivered on those acquisitions worse than Constellation.” The piece is well worth reading because Constellation sold much of its wine business to E&J Gallo to focus on beer, and has also wracked up millions in losses in its investment in legal marijuana. All of which was about premiumization – not only with wine, but beer.

• No more samples? How do you sell wine without letting wine buyers sample the product? It’s easy, writes a wine marketer named Ben Salisbury. “Any sommelier/wine buyer anywhere can jump online and ‘shop’ for options completely unhindered by pesky distributor sales reps peddling whatever wines are on their priority lists.” That no one will know what the wine tastes like seems to be a minor inconvenience. If I understand the piece correctly,  selling wine is becoming more about a “partnership” with the supplier than anything else. Is it any wonder I wonder about the future of the wine business?