Xiao Yifei returned to the winery to check around, and found that the employees of various departments were working honestly, after all, it was a time of economic crisis, Xiao Yifei did not cut wages and benefits, and the union did not dare to jump around. The internal stability is the next step to appease the outside, and this external, there are mainly two groups of people, the first batch is the dealers in various places.

In the United States, alcohol, including beer, wine, and spirits, is subject to a three-tier distribution system. This three-tier distribution system means that the producer, as the first level, cannot supply directly to the retailer, but must supply the goods to the third-level retailer through the second-level agent, and finally the retailer sells the wine to the customer. Because the laws of each state are different, and there are also state tax issues, this agent is habitually one in each state, even if several states are represented by a company, then the agency company is still divided into departments or established branches.

This three-tier distribution system has a long history, and it was created after the abolition of Prohibition in 1933. The 14-year-long prohibition not only did not solve the situation of the rampant consumption of alcoholic beverages and the chaos of the alcohol market at that time, but instead contributed to the growth of the black market and the strength of the gangs. Therefore, in the 21st Amendment to the Constitution promulgated in 1933, although the prohibition of alcohol was repealed, it also proposed that the states should have the right to legislate on the sale of alcohol, giving each state government the power to control the circulation of alcohol independently.

The three-tier system is a product of this process, and the legislator wants to introduce a non-skippable wholesaler link, through the limitation of the number of wholesalers, to regulate the voice of each link in the market, to avoid the flood of sales, to ensure that the government strictly manages the market, and to ensure that no one can evade taxes.

Some people may say that in today's advanced network and e-commerce, the role of middlemen can be completely skipped, and the customer directly places an order with the winery and other producers, and then mails it to the customer.

In fact, there are such transactions, but they are rare, because there is a direct mail sales restriction law. At present, 10 states and cities in the United States, including Alabama and Delaware, completely prohibit direct mail sales. Other states allow it, but they also have limits on the number and taxes.

The three-tier distribution system is one of the reasons for the high price of alcohol. For example, at the Monterena Winery, there is a wine called Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, which is wholesaled by the Monterena Winery to distributors for $25 a bottle. The distributor sells the liquor for $37, $50 in stores and up to $100 in bars and restaurants. In the process, the winery received $25, the distributor $12, the end seller $13, and a whopping $63 if they were sold in a restaurant bar.

But it also has benefits. The first benefit is antitrust. For example, Jialu Group claims that one out of every four bottles of wine is produced by them, and once several large wine producers such as Jialu Group use their huge production volume to form an alliance and force the final retailer to sign an exclusive agreement with them, and do not allow wines outside the alliance to enter the hands of terminal retailers, then other small and medium-sized wine producers, such as Xiao Yifei's Monterena Winery, will not be able to produce fine wines in front of customers.

The second benefit is that it plays a great role in controlling the sale of alcohol, especially in terms of not allowing more minors to sell alcoholic beverages, and this three-level distribution system has contributed a lot.

The third is taxation, which does minimize the possibility of tax evasion. As a result, while many groups have called for the abolition of the three-tier distribution system, they have received little support and have simply not been able to shake the well-established system that has been in use for decades.

Every year, the winery sells Chardonnay from 2 years ago in June and Riesling from the previous year in July. This year, because of Xiao Yifei's acquisition of the winery, the release of Chardonnay was postponed by Bo, and it was just before the signing of the contract to hold a new wine launch event for these Xiao Yifei and these distributors to meet.

The Monterena winery has distributors in various states and some foreign countries, and everyone has cooperated for many years, and the distributors usually do not need to come to the winery, as long as they say the order quantity, pay the payment, and the winery can send the goods over. It's just that this time it involves the change of owner of the winery, and the invitation is only for dealers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico and other countries, so Bo came forward, Xiao Yi flew out the ticket money, and these dealers were invited to the winery to participate in the new wine launch held in front of the castle.

These dealers are in control of Xiao Yifei's economic lifeline, if no one sells the wine brewed, then no matter how good the wine is, it can only be the same as those small cult wineries in the valley, relying on everyone to buy it at the winery, and this kind of sales volume is pitiful. Therefore, before the signing ceremony, they must be appeased.

Bo first introduced Xiao Yifei and said that he would take over the winery, and hoped that everyone would continue to support him.

Xiao Yifei came to the stage, and this was the first time he had spoken on such an important occasion. It is nothing more than some words touting everyone, ensuring that the winery will not reduce the quality of the wine when it changes hands, and there is also the fact that it will make better wine, that is, more profitable wine to provide to consumers, and the implication is that the distributor can make more money.

Finally, Brian, the vice president in charge of sales, took the stage and announced the release of 10,500 cases of Chardonnay in '07.

Waiters came up with bottles of decanted wine and poured the wine into the empty glasses on the table. One by one, the dealers took the wine glasses and tasted the wines with both shaking and smelling. Then they got together in twos and threes to express their feelings about the Chardonnay that took two years to make. Xiao Yifei, under the leadership of Brian, the vice president of the winery, hooked up with these dealers one by one.

These distributors have been working with the winery for so many years, and the Monterena winery also has a certain reputation in the United States, and the Monterena range of wines is still popular, and it sells out every year, which can bring profits to these distributors. Although the winery has changed owners, the wines sold now are after all made a few years ago, and even if the quality of the winery declines, it will be a few years later. Now they don't have to deal with things that can bring them profits.

Soon the distributor goes to the winery and writes down the quantity he wants to order. After a simple count, a third of the Chardonnay is in the arms of the orderers today.

Xiao Yifei felt that this third was too little, but he didn't know the previous situation, so he could only ask Brian.

"How does it compare to the previous ones?"

"Yes, it's about the same as last year, it seems that the economic crisis has not had much impact on our winery, and this year we are still selling out."

This is only a third, and even if the winery leaves 10%, half of the wine is still not sold.

"Can you sell out the rest of the wine?"

"This is our winery's signature wine, and the most famous white wine in the United States can't be sold. The reason why only one-third of the goods are sold now is because dealers also have to consider financial pressure and storage costs, this batch of goods is prepared by these dealers for these months of sales, before the sales season, especially Thanksgiving, before Christmas, they will also order a batch. In addition, when the new wine is released next spring, they will come and order, so that we can easily sell out every time we are young. ”

Xiao Yifei was relieved.

The next 2,500 cases of '08 Riesling, although also very popular, did not sell as well as Chardonnay, but according to Brian, the number of orders this year has increased by 10% compared to last year, and it seems that the market is becoming more and more popular with this wine, and the rest will be sold out in a year.

At the end of the press conference, Xiao Yifei and the people of the transition committee invited all dealers to a reception and communicated with many dealers. After a cocktail party, I contacted many dealer leaders, and also promised to ensure the quality in the future, and would not arbitrarily increase the ex-factory price, which was a temporary appeasement of the dealers.

Xiao Yifei didn't have time to determine how effective the pacification of these dealers would be, and then he still had a group of important people to know and deal with.

Monterrey, as the "old winery" of Napa, has made a great contribution to the reputation of Napa wines, and as a long-established medium winery, it is a natural member of the Napa Valley Vintners Association and a member of the association's board of directors. Beau's father, Jimmy. Barrett also served as president of the association.

This Napa Wine Merchants Association is equivalent to our Chamber of Commerce, but it has more power than our Chamber of Commerce. For example, they drafted the Napa Winery Definition Ordinance, or WDo, which was passed by the Napa County Board of Supervisors, which is legally enforceable. There are limits on how many people each winery can attend, 85% of the grapes in Napa Valley and Napa Valley must be guaranteed to be produced in Napa Valley, and there is a limit on the production of each winery, and it is forbidden to expand the winery without permission, and the winery is not allowed to provide food, etc. Wine merchants face fines for non-compliance, and if they don't pay the fine, the court may close the winery.

With more than 400 wineries in Napa and only 15 seats on the board, it is not easy for Monterey Winery to have a seat in it. And after Xiao Yifei bought the winery, he naturally inherited this seat.

Although this seat does not usually have many rights and can only follow the existing laws and regulations, the board of directors has the power to amend the existing regulations, and once submitted to the Napa County Board of Supervisors for approval, they become new regulations that everyone must follow. In addition, the expansion and renovation of the distillery, and the sale of the distillery must be approved by this association before proceeding, so it is convenient to have such a seat. That is, having this seat, at least to ensure that his interests are not violated.

The prices of the third tier of wine are as follows and are adjusted accordingly:

$100 a bottle of wine, whose pocket does the profit go into? http://www./culture/sc/20140820155001315

Original in English: grossmargins:BreakingDown

thePriceofaBottleofwine

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