Pinot Law

A few days back, I wrote about keeping an eye on the horizon for gathering storms. Since I am a big believer in lighting a candle as opposed to cursing the darkness, I thought it might be helpful to identify ten easy ways to set up your own weather radar for governmental developments that could create stormy weather.

10. Stay in touch with other wineries. The easiest way to stay abreast of possible developments is talking across the fence to wineries in your area.  I have found that — at least in our neck of the woods — other wineries are eager to get the word out about legislative developments, especially at the local and state level.

9. Utilize Association Information. Whether just visiting their websites, or signing up for full membership, associations are a tremendous resource.  From a membership perspective, Wine America in particular has been a great resource for our winery to stay abreast of developments (the Wine America members section has a legislation tracking tool for each state, and fantastic label approval tools).  Of course, for you California wineries you have the Wine Institute, which is chock full of handy resources, including their state distribution webpage.

8. Join your State Association. While I have not checked all fifty states, I know that Virginia (such as here and here) and several others have winery associations that keep their eyes on what is happening in State capitals. Coupled with the benefits of membership in a National association, these resources let you stay on top of developments at the State and Federal level.

7. Join — or form — a Regional Association. All politics is local, and there are a number of regional winery associations out there.  Even if the organizations are not advocacy based, they can still be a great resource for wineries.

6. Read the paper. I know newspapers are falling on hard times, but I have found they are great resources for getting information. My hometown paper, the Washington Post has a number of weekly sections where this information often turns up. In particular, I am a huge fan of the Monday “Regulators” section, which has covered TTB initiatives on several occasions (including developments on the changes to nutritional labeling, here and here

5. Sign up for Google News Alerts. Google has a great tool for receiving notices on a particular topic that hits the news. They can even be used to track what people are saying online about your winery.  It is a great tool for staying on top of developments in wine law.

4. Read Blogs.  There are just too many good ones to choose from.  The information is always free and the folks who write these are incredibly informed.  In no particular order, some of my favorites are the Fermentation Wine Blog by the great Tom Wark; Wine Without Borders; and the REthink Wine Blog.

3. Keep Tabs on your Legislature. Virginia has a pretty decent main page for tracking all sorts of information. They even have a free service for tracking the status of up to five specific bills, or, if you want to drop some coin, you can even track an unlimited number of bills with a wider range of customer service support. They even have an index by subject, dating back to 1995. Most states have similar tools. Once you receive information on a particular bill, it is a great resource for getting the latest developments, without having to go back to the website to check.

2. Sign up for TTB’s Newsletters. TTB has a number of newsletters that companies can sign up for. The best type of information is that which comes from the source.  You can sign up here.

1. Get Free Information from . . . Attorneys! Believe it or not, many law firms have free newsletters that address specific industry topics. For example, McDermott, Will and Emery has separate newsletters for both Agribusiness and Food and Beverage issues, while Stoel Rives has a newsletter for Wineries and Vineyard. Both are free.

Using all of these informative resources can go a long way to keep you appraised of the weather. And in 2009 I hope it is clear skies and sunny . . . but you never know.