SCOTUS Allows Wine to flow Freely

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Overturning the laws in states that allow in-state wineries to ship directly to consumers, but not out of state wineries. It's about time too. People who visit wine producing states, such as California, are often shocked when they find they cannot ship any back to their home state. This ruling affects eight states, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Florida, which had laws on the books allowing in-state wineries only to sell directly to consumers. This leaves just fifteeen states that don't allow any direct sale to consumers.

These stupid laws have frustrated me for years, being unable to ship to MI or FL where all my relatives are. There are literally hundreds of small wineries in CA that have no presence outside of their local clientele, often selling only from the winery. This is a huge victory for them and for everyone who loves a good glass of wine.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/17/MNGAVCQB0N1.DTL

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Then I, for one, am glad to hear it. The economy stays healthiest when small business prospers--it keeps the big boys on their toes, and circulates capital more quickly.

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well it all depends on how you read it, the supremes ruled that states can't discriminate by having different reg for instate vs out of state shipment of wine so quite likely the states in question will simply restrict ALL direct to consumer.

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It goes back to prohibition. After it was repealed, many states setup distributorships, which were sold to the highest bidder. These distributors essentially control the sale of all liquor in their respective state, and ownership is private and passed through the family.... so you can guess what happened.

All of the mafiosos running booze during prohibition used their money to buy distributorships, and now have legal family businesses, operating in true mobster fashion - simply taking a cut while providing no real value.

These are the deep pockets that then try to write the laws that prevent direct shipment. Along the way, they pick up unwitting bible thumpers who think that this is going to give children an easy way to buy alcohol online. Think about it....know any teenagers who are big Cabernet fans? Me neither.

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more - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/opinion/17tues3.html?th&emc=th

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SCOTUS Allows Wine to flow Freely

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