It may be positioned as ‘breaking news’, but today’s announcement from the California ABC is the result of YEARS of efforts from many players.

First, we should all applaud, tip the collective cap, and generally be grateful for California Alcoholic Beverage Commision Director Jacob Appelsmith. He quickly and efficiently brought together working groups of industry veterans to try to update current ABC policies to reflect the current environment without sacrificing the oversight and principles of Alcohol Regulation. None of us want to sell wine to minors… but that desire should not conflict with a winery’s right to generally advertise it’s product (at least not more so than it does for your average beer company).

Many people have contributed to making this all happen- I want to ensure that the Coalition for Consumer Rights gets credit for putting some of the essential pieces of this in motion… almost two years ago!

The Coalition was founded by Alyssa Rapp, CEO of Bottlenotes, Inc., in an effort to promote the rights of consumers (to get access to great wines online), wineries, and winery marketing agents looking to help drive direct to consumer sales in legal, creative, and transparent ways.

Alyssa pulled me into the Coalition sometime last year. The rest of the membership has asked to remain ‘behind the curtain’ for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fear of reprisal from wholesalers/distributors.

Which is fine and, obviously, that’s their prerogative. I wanted to reserve space on my company’s site to thank the Coalition (and take some modicum of credit, where it was earned, for myself).

I have a strong belief that the ‘test’ for a Third Party Marketer – putting the licensee in ultimate and complete control of the transaction and resulting funds – is fair.

We’re not the only entity that benefits from this- there are plenty of Third Party Marketing Agents with transaction systems that ostensibly adhere to the new principles. One of the reasons the Coalition takes great pride in today’s announcement is that the guidance speaks to a set of easily constructed, verifiable principles (rather than favoring any one player or legacy).

Finally, wineries will be able to, without hesitation, insist on the same tools, terms, and techniques that other luxury businesses utilize in their direct sales.

For all of us, I hope the dialogue shifts to how wineries can sustainably increase direct sales and the ways in which marketing agents can be helpful- buying wine should be as painless as ordering shoes online.  Today, we’re much closer to making that a reality.