Every August, the Washington State Liquor stores celebrate Washington wine by having a spectacular month-long sale on Washington wine. This year, because of "computer problems," the State Liquor Commission is postponing the sale a month, until September, 2009.
This will be my first "Washington Wine Month," so I'm eagerly looking forward to it. It's my understanding that the wine on sale is discounted by as much as 50%, in addition to the already often lower prices (the Liquor Commission doesn't tax itself on sales) that there's an additional 10% discount on case sales, even on mixed cases.
Employees at one of the state liquor stores told me that the computer glitch has made inventory and ordering a nightmare—and that for this event in particular, they go through large amounts of inventory very very rapidly, and need to be not only fully stocked in front but in back. They also need to be able to order special orders of case lots, and get them delivered on time. I'm told that most people who are buying Washington wine at the even walk away with a case at least.
If you're curious, you can read about last year's sale here.
I don't know if the other "Washington Wine Month" activities hosted by wineries are going to be affected or not.