What a great way to finish off the year. Great to be part of Wine Spectator’s fantastic piece on the new lawsuit challenging California’s law that allows its wineries to sell directly to retailers, but denies this same privilege to out-of-state wineries.  The piece includes two direct quotes from me.

“From a legal perspective, these state laws permitting in-state producers’ certain rights while denying the same rights to out-of-state producers [are] a clear Commerce Clause violation under Granholm,”

“These lawsuits are paramount to providing access to the marketplace for small wineries [and] producers,” O’Leary explained. “Oftentimes it does not make sense for a wholesaler to carry small brands. Going through the wholesale network for small producers is a near impossible barrier to entry in the marketplace.”