Swedish Monopoly
Sweden will face a legal challenge this summer, as the EU charges Sweden’s wine and spirits distribution system is a monopoly. Part of the EU since 1995, the government has the Systembolaget, a practice that outlaws wine purchasing from indepedent intermediaries. The EU will certainly make a strong case for free markets. But, how could you decide against something called the “systembolaget”. (Decanter)

Body Politic
The US Congress passed a resolution to honor the 1976 Paris Tasting. First, I am surprised that it took 30 years. Second, couldn’t Congress get it done on the actual anniversary last week? Third, this carries the same weight as “Freedom Fries”, perhaps an insult to our neighbors across the pond, but simply words. Still, it is nice to see recognition for the event that many claim exploded the US wine industry. The winning American wines are worth the praise. (Reuters)

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2006 at 8:51 am and is filed under Daily Tasting Flight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.