Wine Lovers Shouldn’t Be Political Pawns Whose Choice Is Controlled by Special Interests
While wine lovers in 46 states may receive wine shipments from out-of-state wineries, only 15 states and the District of Columbia allow consumers to get wine shipments from out-of-state wine retailers, wine-of-the-month-clubs, wine auction houses and Internet retailers. Big, multi-billion dollar middleman wholesalers who give millions of dollars in campaign contributions to state lawmakers along with local retail outlets claim they deserve protection from competition. They claim if consumers can buy from out-of-state wine-of-the=month clubs, retailers will go out of business. They erroneously and condescendingly claim that consumers in their states can get any wine they want and if they can’t get it, well, there is more than enough choice already.
Wine lovers in most of the country have long been political pawns in an effort to protect the big wallets of special interests.
Your Wine Choices Are Limited
In the United States, only licensed retailers (not wineries) may sell imported wines. When your state bans you from receiving wine shipments from out-of-state wine stores, that means you may not receive shipments of French, German, Italian, Spanish, Austrian, New Zealand, Australian, Chilean, Argentine or any other imported wines. In fact, it means you don’t have access to the vast majority of wines available in the American Marketplace. The impact of banning wine shipments from out-of-state retailers is great:
Because only retailers (not producers) may sell imported wines in the U.S., consumers may not have any imported wines shipped to them.
Retailers are the most reliable source of rare and collectible domestic wines, meaning consumers will not have access to the best selection of such wines.
Wine auction houses are considered retailers, so these sources of rare and collectible wines are inaccessible.
Most wine-of-the-month clubs are retailers, rendering these popular clubs inaccessible.
States forgo millions in tax revenue by not licensing out-of-state wine retailers.