The wine industry has lost an important voice in Washington.
After 16 years in the nation’s capital, Bill Nelson is leaving
WineAmerica, the only trade group that represents the entire U.S. wine
industry. Nelson, who has been the group’s president since 2005, has
fought the good fight for direct shipping, federal support for
viticulture research, and other important issues that have helped the
industry grow so dramatically over the past two decades.
Now,
Nelson is a victim of the economic recession, as membership in
WineAmerica has slipped and wineries feeling the pinch have cut back on
paying their membership dues. With HR 5034 now before Congress and the
well-financed wholesalers always looking for opportunities to turn back
gains on direct shipping, this is an unfortunate time for the industry
to downsize its champion.
Nelson looks back on his tenure in Washington in my column in today’s Washington Post
Dave McIntyre's WineLine 
Too bad Bill didn’t have fire in his belly for direct shipping back in
the 1990s when John Hinman and I started the direct shipping fight. Bill
and American Vintners Association AKA Wine America played footsie with
WSWA and got snookered into believing wine could negotiate with them
when WSWA had all the political power — the only way to win, as we
proved, was to take the issue to the courts. AVA never really got on
board because they tried to play belt-way politics instead of getting
nasty and really fighting back.
I’m not on Twitter — if you care to respond, it’s macwine@mcn.org
“Per-capita consumption of wine by Americans will continue to rise, but
if these small wineries are to continue to thrive, direct shipping is
crucial.”