© 1996 JDM Enterprises
SHIP WINE, GO TO JAILby Jerry D. MeadLast year the state of Kentucky passed legislation making it a felony for someone in another state to ship a bottle of wine direct to a citizen in Kentucky. The penalty for doing so was up to five years in prison, making Kentucky the only state in the union where you could do more time for shipping wine than for robbing or hurting someone. In response, nearly 100 American wineries, large and small, stopped shipping any wine to that state, even through normal wholesale channels. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, I suggested boycotting Kentucky Bourbon and marrying first cousins. After which a reader e-mailed a joke that defined the number one pick-up line in eastern Kentucky: "My that's a beautiful tooth you have." Now, were told by a wine industry trade organization, three more states are proposing almost identical legislation, with a fourth only days away from putting it into the legislative hopper. The three states that are trying to join Kentucky in this felony foolishness are Georgia, South Carolina and Arkansas. Mississippi is the state rumored to be days away from filing. Don't feel smug that all these are southern bible-belt states and you live in a more sophisticated jurisdiction where it couldn't possibly happen, because such a proposal may very likely find you wherever you are. It is no coincidence when three or four states have almost identical legislative proposals within a few days. This is a last ditch effort to maintain the status quo by just about the last government-sanctioned monopoly business, the so-called 3-tier system in the wine and spirits industry. The law most places says that wholesalers have to buy from producers (wineries, breweries or distillers), that retailers have to buy from wholesalers and that consumers must buy from retailers. Retailers are not permitted to buy from other retailers (even when, crazy as it sounds, a retailer can buy cheaper from a large chain retail store than he can from a wholesaler), or direct from producers in other states, or from any source that bypasses the wholesaler. So you see, the wholesaler has a monopoly in its state and can basically charge whatever it wants, and under whatever terms it feels like setting, and the retailer can't buy the product anywhere else. In most states, wholesalers have exclusives on all the brands they carry, so there is no other source within the state from which the retailer can buy. With the advent of the internet, the growing popularity of wine and craft-brewed beers, and an increased number of consumer-oriented wine publications like Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator, Wine & Spirits, Wine Trader and more, consumers heard about brands that either weren't available in their market for whatever reason, or were advertised at sometimes half price in another state. American consumers, thinking they lived in a free country, responded by purchasing product where they could find what they wanted at the price they wanted. What they didn't know is that most states have laws banning importation of wine from other states by individuals. Most of the visitors to the wine regions in America's 44 wine-producing states who get on a plane to go back home with a 6-pack of locally made wine are technically considered "bootleggers" by their state governments. Here's what's interesting though. I cannot recall a consumer in any state being arrested or cited for importing or receiving a shipment or gift of wine from another state. But Florida, New Jersey, Maryland and several other states have taken legal action against wineries, retailers and wine and beer of the month clubs in other states. It appears they don't want to deal with the political football of arresting and putting away for up to five years the doctors, lawyers, and perhaps even politicians, who live in the home state. There is evidence that an earlier Florida legal action was instigated by a powerful wholesaler, and the Kentucky felony law was definitely put forth by the state's wholesalers, so there's every reason to believe that wholesalers are behind these new actions. Why are they trying to make wine shipping by some small California grape farmer a felony? Two reasons. The existing laws are all toothless because they are misdemeanors and not grounds for extraditing. The second reason is they know it will scare the small wineries selling wine direct, hopefully into submission. You see, the federal government can suspend a winery's license, if it or its principles are charged with a felony. If you are consumer or small business person who wants to know more about the legal restrictions against free interstate trade in wine, beer and spirits, and particularly what might be done to bring these antiquated restrictions to an end, there is a non-profit organization devoted to doing just that. For more information contact: Coalition for Free Trade in Licensed Beverages, 244 California St #300, San Francisco, CA 94111 (415) 362-1215. While we're waiting for the ultimate resolution of this issue, probably by the U.S. Supreme Court, better be careful about sending wine to that friend in any of the above mentioned states. Your act of kindness could have you doing hard time.
BEST BUY WINE OF THE WEEK
 HOME
|
