Wine Peeps is an independent wine blog dedicated to helping you get the most bang for your buck in wine. We do this through blind tastings of wine from around the world and calculations of 
State of Washington is shooting itself in the foot!
By John ~ May 12th, 2008
Protectionism was one of the main causes of the Great Depression, yet we seem to have to relearn that lesson over and over again in both national and state politics. Here in the state of Washington, our legislators once again this year failed to listen to the lessons of history and pass a bill (SB6384) to allow wine to be shipped freely from retailers to consumers in the state of Washington.
Instead they listened to the protectionist rhetoric of the large wineries and distributors and lapped up the money that their lobbyists so generously provide. When are our legislators going to think for themselves and do what is right for the consumers of Washington State? After all, this is a democracy. When we let the free enterprise system work without artificial restraints such as these, it functions best. Artificial barriers only seem to work in the short run, but they will kill those they are designed to protect in the long run, our Washington wineries and distributors.
I have been a big fan of Washington wines for many years, and we have touted them energetically wherever we go in our wine travels and on this blog. But I am embarrassed by the recent actions of our Washington Liquor Control Board which I understand has been writing threatening letters to retailers around the country demanding that they cease shipments to Washington wine buyers. I realize that the board is only trying to enforce the law, but do they, our legislature, and our Washington wineries and distributors not understand that life is a two-way street? We need retailers around the country touting Washington wines. Do you think these threats help the image of the Washington wine industry around the country and get wine retailers excited about promoting our wines? Of course not! And if we continue our protectionist rules, the Chateau Ste Michelle/Columbia Crest group, for example, may find itself not being able to sell in other states someday.
The straw that broke the camels back for me personally was when I could not find an Australian wine that I like in local Seattle area stores as I have in the past and went online to see where I might find it. When I found it at an online retailer I had purchased through before and placed an order, the order was rejected by the retailer saying that they could no longer ship to a customer in Washington State. I guess they must have received the infamous letter. That is nuts!
The State of Washington has a law that benefits in-state wineries, distributors, and retailers to the disadvantage of out-of-state competitors. In addition to being shortsighted, as I have said above, this kind of law should also run afoul of what constitutional lawyers call the “dormant Commerce Clause.”
In “dormant Commerce Clause†cases, the Supreme Court has held that the federal Constitution’s Commerce Clause, which authorizes Congress to regulate commerce “among the several states,” is more than a grant of power. Rather, according to the Court, the Clause also contains an implicit prohibition, insofar as the Clause reflects America’s intent to be an integrated and unbalkanized economic whole generally free from parochial tariffs and other barriers to trade that states might erect to try to protect their local industries from out-of-state competition. Thus, according to Court doctrine, if state laws that discriminate against out-of-state firms are ever to be upheld, it must be because of Congressional permission or some other unusual and compelling circumstance.
In simple English, if this is truly the United States of America, we need to eliminate these protectionist state laws, which are probably illegal and without question not of long-term economic benefit to the individual states, and instead, have laws that let me, you, and all other consumers buy whatever wine we want to buy, wherever we can find it, from whomever we want to buy it, whether in-state or out-of-state.
So what do you and other Washington wine consumers do in the meantime? Here are some suggestions:
- Write your state legislator explaining your displeasure.
- Write the big wineries and distributors explaining your displeasure and how this law may backfire on them in the future.
- Buy one less bottle of Washington wine for every bottle you are denied buying elsewhere and notify the Washington winery that loses your business.
Have you had similar problems having wine shipped to you in Washington State from out-of-state retailers? Does this protectionist law upset you as much as it upsets me? Please share your story. We would love to hear if you have some better ideas on how we can restore the democratic process in Washington State on wine sales.
Filed under: General Wine Information
Our first visit was to 
Next we visited 
To be perfectly honest, my experience with Old World Riesling is extremely limited so this was a great opportunity to try something that has not been in my regular repertoire. I picked up two different bottles so that we could have a blind tasting. One of them, the 2006 Josef Leitz Rudesheimer Drachenstein Riesling “Dragonstone,†we had a couple years ago in a previous vintage. The other was new to us, the 2004 Studert-Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese, but had been featured in the newsletter for a local wine shop.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed with both of these wines. They were both good but certainly nothing spectacular. The four Wine Peeps were split two to two on which one we liked better. Given that I have other white wines at this price point that I like much better, it is doubtful that I would buy either of these again. Since I have heard such great things about Old World Rieslings, and German Rieslings in particular, I do plan to try others in the future. I am not going to let this one experience color my opinion of all German Rieslings. And I do think people who have a different palate than I do, especially those new to wine, may find these two wines enjoyable (particularly the Dragonstone).
We recently had one of our double-blind private tastings. All we knew when we sat down for dinner was that these two wines were red, but we did not know their region of origin or varietal. For a more complete description of how we set up these private tastings, please refer back to my 
We picked up both of these bottles at 
I thought the best wines at 
Ponderosa Valley Winery
Last month, Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV hosted the 44th edition of 
Today marks the second “virtual meeting†of the 
While I found this book to be a good read, it is not for everyone. If you are interested in learning more about Bordeaux, the people, places, and history, this could be a book for you, and you can head over to 
Next we visited 
We followed the same format as last time for the tasting. All four of us Wine Peeps got together one afternoon, put all 13 bottles out on the table and tasted them one-by-one, discussing them as we went.
