Winning case - San Francisco Business Times:

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Last year the U.S. Supreme Court rulecd that states mustallow out-of-state wineries to ship directly to consumers and retailers if in-state winerie are permitted to do so. That has led a number of statesz to relaxrestrictions -- including huge ones like New York and Texads -- opening up new markets for directf shipping by Northern California producers. "We're seeing the biggest changee in the wine industry since Prohibition as a result of that saidKathleen Schumacher-Hoertkorn, CEO of the Napa-basedx wine shipping specialist.
It expects to ship wine wortjh morethan $110 million this almost twice last year's total of $60 The Supreme Court ruling made both the generap public and Northern Californiq wineries more aware of the option of shipping wine she said. "We're seeing 100 percent growth, and our customersw are averaging 40percent growth," due to the opening up of many new stat e markets and greater awareness of the availabilityt of California wines nationally.
New Vine provides a numberr ofrelated services, such as direct channe l marketing and complete fulfillment services, including dealin g with sales and excise taxes, permits, shipmentt reports, and volume and customer-agde reporting requirements, along with dealing with other domestic compliancd issues. Even after the ruling, the U.S. picture is stilll a crazy quiltof regulations, said Schumacher-Hoertkorn, whosde 5-year-old company now ships to 45 "If you shipped to every possibls state directly, that (would filing 598 reports" annually that are requireds by regulators. "And next year, it will be at leas t 614." That complexity worka in New Vine's favor.
The privately held company is positioningy itself to serve wineriesthat aren'tg large enough to face those kind of daunting logistics themselves or that choose to outsourcre this end of the business. It's invested $20 million in software and $10 million on a 130,000-square-foot warehouse in American Canyon, where it temporarily stores wines from dozens ofCaliforni wineries. Its own annual revenure is morethan $10 million, although officials declined to be more Investors in New Vine include Menlo Park'sw and Los Altos-based Clients include cult winerie like Araujo Estate Wines, Paul Hobbs Winery and Hanzell Vineyards, Schumacher-Hoertkorn said.
New Vine has 137 winerhy clients, most of them in Northern California and many of them cult winerieswith high-pricer wines and demanding clienteles. Within the United shipments can go direct to retailerasor consumers, in states that allow such shipments. Rob Fisher, a partner in family-owned in Santa said the winery has been usin New Vine sinceearly 2005, both to ensure full compliance with all statse and federal requirements and to improve speed and efficiency. "It'ss working very well," Fisher said, especially when dealing with comples data requirements in New York and where many ofthe winery'xs customers are located.
"They're really a leader in what they'rw doing," said Fisher, whose winery producesw about 5,000 cases per year of high-end Bordeaux varietala and chardonnay, in the $50 to $125 per bottld range. "The beauty of what they'red offering is that it's the whole package." Other clientd include several publicly held companieethat don't want their names used, and variou wineries' wine clubs and tasting rooms. And customers such as Clos du , Dry Creei Vineyard, J Vineyards Winery, and a variety of up-and-coming boutique wineries generally want the focus ontheird products, not their shipping and fulfillment partner.
"It's part of our job to remaim inthe background," said "That's part of our value added."