Wine Distributor: What is the role of a wine distributor?
We are focusing on USA wine market as in most other parts of the world a winery or an importer can also distribute wine to the retailers.
USA has a three-tier law where every alcoholic beverage must flow from a winery or wine importer to a wine distributor or say wine wholesaler and finally to the wine retailer. At all levels mark up is added. But the good news is import taxes are much lower than many parts of the world and thus you see US as one of the biggest wine markets in the world.
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Job of a wine distributor is very state specific where most of the states allow only one wine distributor per brand. Thus a retailer can only buy that wine from its respective wine distributor for the respective state they are registered for.
The American three-tier distribution system is governed by the 21st Amendment of the United States Constitution. When the U.S. Congress first passed this law in 1933, this historic Constitutional Amendment overturned the infamous 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed 14 years before in 1919.
Wine Wholesaler / Wine Distributor Information Resources (Source TTB.gov)
Applying for a Permit - If you plan to purchase and sell alcohol at wholesale, you must first obtain a Basic Permit from TTB.
Alcohol Wholesaler Application Packet - Wholesalers (WHL), businesses which sell beverage alcohol products at wholesale to other wholesalers or retailers must first obtain a Wholesaler's Basic Permit.
Producers or manufacturers of beverage alcohol products need to apply for a Wholesaler's Basic Permit only if they intend to sell beverage alcohol products which they did not produce or manufacture.
Wholesaler/Importer (Alcohol): Businesses which require a Basic Permit for Importing (to import and distribute foreign beverage alcohol) and Wholesaling (to distribute at wholesale, domestic beverage alcohol) from the same location may reduce the required paperwork by combining the applications.
Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA), an leading trade organization in the US that works to oppose initiatives to alter the three-tier model, contends that wholesalers not only sell alcohol but also perform state functions and are in the business of encouraging social responsibility concerning alcohol.
At the state level, two legal approaches are taken. 32 states allow the private sector to distribute and sell alcoholic beverages, including such states as California, New York and Florida, among others via the three-tier wine distribution system. Elsewhere, 18 states have decided to adopt a so-called control distribution model, under which the state is involved in one or more tiers of the traditional three-tier distribution system noted earlier.
Control state markets like Pennsylvania and New Hampshire not only manage the distribution tier (and related tax revenue collections), but also the retail tier as well, while other control states like Michigan, North Carolina and Vermont all take slightly different approaches.
The following directory provides the contact information for each state and a link to their Web site. Please contact those states directly wherein you desire to do business.
Image: A beautiful picture of Misty Cove Vineyard in New Zealand - BTN Featured Winery
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