I'm not sure how much I agree; wine and coffee work quite differently than distilled spirits. In wine, you have never needed to own the vineyards to be a vintn

I'm not sure how much I agree; wine and coffee work quite differently than distilled spirits. In wine, you have never needed to own the vineyards to be a vintner - as far back as medieval Europe, we had merchants purchasing grapes from various regions and blending their own house wines. There is still skill in matching various grapes, yeast, water, and oak - much more so than simply bottling someone else's spirit. It is similar in coffee; individual farmers tend to the crops and produce the green coffee (sometimes a commodity, sometimes a specialty product). Roasters purchase the green coffee from a middleman who takes care of sourcing, shipping, and storage. Often this is done after a sample has been sent and roasted and the price has been negotiated. The roaster is then responsible for the majority of the final flavor profile of the bean. His (or her) level of roast, airflow, timing, etc, will determine how the coffee should be brewed, and what notes will be present and what will be absent. So again, it's a little different in coffee than spirits... the grapes and green coffee beans are closer to the raw grain used in making whiskey and rye, than to the finished spirit. There is no deception in selling wine made by another vineyards grapes or coffee purchased through a middleman. As a side note, all of the largest artisan coffee producers (ie Stumptown and Blue Bottle) have started Direct Trade relationships with coffee farms, and pay a price premium to the farmer to increase the quality on the farm side - investment like this has yet to happen in the distilling industry.