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Will this affect the way you purchase wines? Almost certainly.<\/p>\nChange is on the horizon for how and where you buy wine, and it\u2019s probably not a bad idea to start preparing yourself now.<\/p>\n
Remember the passage of Initiative 1183 last fall? The initiative approved the privatization of liquor sales and distribution and also allowed for discount pricing on wine and spirits. By June 1, all State liquor stores must close and private sales from qualifying retailers can begin.<\/p>\n
Will this affect the way you purchase wines? Almost certainly.<\/p>\n
For starters, you\u2019re going to see a smaller selection of wines at large retail grocers. Shelf space that was once dedicated exclusively for wine is going to shrink as retailers make room for liquor and spirits.<\/p>\n
You can also expect that smaller space to be occupied by fewer wineries, and those wineries will likely be larger ones that can take advantage of the discount pricing feature. Yes, you\u2019ll probably see some good prices, but you\u2019ll also have less, perhaps significantly less, to choose from.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve spoken to a salesperson for a local winery and he\u2019s already been notified by a Whatcom County-based grocer that after June 1 they\u2019ll be cutting back on the amount of his wine available for display. This scenario will also be the case for a number of other smaller, mom-and-pop Washington wineries, effectively forcing them out of this part of the market in search of other retail venues.<\/p>\n
I expect that this will work in favor of privately owned wine shops, who\u2019ll be able to provide an outlet for small wineries and capitalize on \u201charder to find\u201d wines that will no longer be able available for purchase in the wine section at your grocer. It\u2019s quite possible you\u2019ll see an increase in the number of these shops as time progresses.<\/p>\n
Smaller Washington wineries will also need to take advantage of other ways to sell their wine. Nearly everyone has online sales availability, but self-promotion of a firsthand visit to the winery\u2019s production facility and tasting room should take on even more importance.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always been a big proponent of experiencing a winery this way and can envision these smaller producers continuing to pool their resources in a creative effort to entice consumers. Look for the formation of even more winery associations that offer cooperative advertising and promotion, special events and festivals, tours, accommodation packages and the like. <\/p>\n
Will all these changes come about? Although that\u2019s not entirely clear one thing is for certain; once June 1 rolls around buying wine will never be quite the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Change is on the horizon for how and where you buy wine, and it\u2019s probably not a bad idea to start preparing yourself now. Remember the passage of Initiative 1183 last fall? The initiative approved the privatization of liquor sales and distribution and also allowed for discount pricing on wine and spirits. By June 1, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-bellingham-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions\/819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}