Dateline Harrisburg: October 13, 2015
The PLCB announced today that as long as the threat of privatization continues they will support Pennsylvania wine makers. Chairman Tim Holden stated that the the PLCB is fully behind Pennsylvania wine makers, and the proof is the 50% increase in shelf space allotted to Pennsylvania wines.
"The change from two to three shelves of Pennsylvana wines is a big step for the state's vintners," Holden announced. "We support all Pennsylvania wineries, even the ones that can't afford to sell to us because of our pricing policy (a majority of the over 200 wineries in the Commonwealth). In the past 5 years we have instituted ONE new policy to help Pennsylvania wineries, an increase of 100% over the previous 75 years, to try and make up for selling bulk California wine that undercut the state's own producers. We won't get caught doing that again."
Board member Michael Negra chimed in with this bit of techno-hope: "Over the next five years we plan to attempt to put a tab on our website so you can see all the Pennsylvania wines available for order. Someday we hope to be able to allow a customer in Erie to order a Lehigh Valley wine and have it delivered to their local store! But for the moment we aren't equipped to ship and warehouse the hundreds of different SKUs that would require, and of course we couldn't allow the winery to ship direct to the customer; that would mean a loss of control. And 'Control' is our middle name, kind of."
Consumer reaction has been mixed since the change in the stores. "I don't know where to find the Riunite now." said a State Store customer, "It was always under the PA wine section before and now they have moved it. because of the extra shelf of PA wines."
"I think it is great!" said another consumer as he walked past the Pennsylvania wine section to get a box of Franzia. "I think the state should support in-state businesses. Maybe not having the PA wine section in the back corner of the store would be better...but hey, I'm sure they know what they're doing."
